Chelsea and Brighton to blank in Gameweek 27 as Hazard stars on left wing

The line-up for the first blank Gameweek of the season was completed on Thursday evening as Chelsea defeated Tottenham Hotspur on penalties to progress to the EFL Cup final.

The Blues’ victory means that their scheduled Gameweek 27 match against Brighton and Hove Albion will now have to be rearranged, as is the case with Everton v Manchester City on the same weekend.

An announcement on when those outstanding fixtures will now take place should hopefully be forthcoming in the next few days.

The Gameweek 27 line-up now looks like this:

Friday 22 February
Cardiff v Watford
West Ham v Fulham

Saturday 23 February
Burnley v Spurs
Bournemouth v Wolves
Leicester v Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Huddersfield

Sunday 24 February
Arsenal v Southampton
Man Utd v Liverpool

Two of the “big six” play each other in the final fixture of Gameweek 27, with Arsenal’s home encounter with Southampton arguably the pick of the matches for those mulling over early captaincy candidates.

We’ll have more on the blanks and doubles over the coming week but there is plenty to discuss from the match itself last night, with Eden Hazard back on the left wing, Marcos Alonso dropped to the bench and Spurs suffering yet more injury woes.

Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (2-2 on aggregate, 4-2 on penalties)

• Goals: N’Golo Kante (£5.0m), Eden Hazard (£11.0m) | Fernando Llorente (£5.6m)
• Assists: Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.3m)| Danny Rose (£5.8m)

Eden Hazard (£11.0m) delivered another convincing argument that he is more of a threat on the left flank than as a false nine with a starring role in Chelsea’s EFL Cup semi-final, second leg tie against Spurs on Thursday.

Hazard scored his first Chelsea goal in 564 minutes but his tidy finish from a low Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.3m) cross was only the cherry on the cake as the Belgian delivered the kind of menacing performance that has been conspicuous by its absence in recent weeks – whether his fault or otherwise.

Existing and prospective owners of Hazard would have been encouraged by the signing of Gonzalo Higuain (£9.5m) on Wednesday, which at least gives Maurizio Sarri the option of moving the Belgian back to his favoured left-wing role.

Sarri’s fondness for Hazard in a central position means we won’t likely see a total abandonment of that strategy, however, especially in tougher matches against the “big six” given that the Chelsea boss had previously said Hazard gives the side more protection in the “defensive phase” when he is used as the spearhead of the attack.

For this must-win game against Spurs, Olivier Giroud (£7.7m) was brought back into the starting XI in attack to allow for Hazard’s deployment in a wider position.

The Frenchman wasn’t particularly effective up front and again failed to get on the scoresheet, mistiming an attempted flick from a Hazard cross, firing a shot straight at Paolo Gazzaniga (£4.5m) after being fed through by N’Golo Kante (£5.0m) and, worst of all, spurning a glorious headed chance to win the tie in stoppage-time.

Giroud’s inclusion was less about his own display and more about how it had a positive effect on Hazard, however.

No player on show registered more key passes, crosses or successful take-ons than the Belgian, who, aside from his goal, also whistled two efforts narrowly wide of Gazzaniga’s right-hand-post in the second half.

Sarri had plenty to say about his talismanic winger in the build-up to this cup tie and Hazard was asked about Sarri’s pre-match comments at full-time:

To be fair, I don’t care. I just play my football and it doesn’t matter what the manager says.

I’m always focused on this team and I just want to do my best for this team, and today I did.

Sarri was asked if Hazard “had fun” in the left-wing role and said after the match:

I think so. I had fun, for 65 minutes with Hazard… 70 or 75… He was a bit tired in the last part of the match, but he ran a lot I think. He played fantastically, a wonderful match.

I think the position is not a big problem. I think in this match, we played with another mind. With another motivation. With another determination. So I think that his qualities are more important than his position.

Chelsea were largely at full-strength last night but a notable omission from the starting line-up was Marcos Alonso (£6.6m), who remains an ever-present in the league this season but whose remaining Fantasy owners may have been slightly concerned to see Emerson Palmieri (£5.2m) firstly being handed a start in a fixture of this magnitude and secondly deliver an impressive performance at left-back.

Emerson combined well with Hazard down the left and provided plenty of attacking threat of his own, getting forward to whip over nine crosses and setting up Giroud for that aforementioned injury-time chance.

The Italian full-back also matched Hazard’s game-high tally of four successful dribbles and looked reasonably solid from a defensive perspective, a criticism that has been often levelled at both of Sarri’s options at left-back.

The veteran head coach praised Emerson’s performance but again reiterated that Alonso’s physical presence at set-piece situations remains at the forefront of his thoughts:

Emerson will stay with us for sure. Emerson for us is very important. He is improving. Sometimes I have a little problem to put him in the starting XI because we’re not a very physical team.

You saw when we play with the three little players in the same match, set-pieces could be a very big problem. But I’m really very happy with him. He’s improving. He’s really a very good player.

Aside from losing Fernando Llorente (£5.6m) for Spurs’ goal, David Luiz (£5.9m) had another fine match at centre-half, while Azpilicueta also rolled back the years with an improved display at right-back.

Pedro (£6.3m) and Ross Barkley (£5.2m) were given the nod over Willian (£7.2m) and Mateo Kovacic (£5.7m) in their respective positions, meanwhile, though both players only impressed sporadically.

Kante was his usual all-action self and opened the scoring with a deflected effort that passed through three sets of Spurs legs en route to goal.

After questioning his side’s motivation following the defeat to Arsenal, Sarri said he was pleased with Thursday’s victory at Stamford Bridge:

I think that they reacted really very well tonight. But I didn’t attack my players. I only said that we had a problem. The reaction was really very good, but I think we need to have motivation with continuity now.

But I was really very happy with the performance before the penalties. Of course, now, it’s better because we are able to play in a final, a very difficult final but we will go to play. I was really very happy with the performance.

Given that Harry Kane (£12.5m), Son Heung-min (£8.6m) and Dele Alli (£8.9m) were all unavailable for last night’s encounter, Spurs understandably struggled to pose much of a goal threat for large periods of the tie. The Lilywhites had only one attempt on goal in the opening 45 minutes (an off-target one, at that) but improved after the break, with Mauricio Pochettino dropping Eric Dier (£4.7m) into a back three and switching from a 4-3-1-2 to a 3-4-1-2.

Danny Rose (£5.8m) had replaced the injured Ben Davies (£5.6m) before the interval and the England defender was again excellent down the left flank, getting into advanced positions and whipping over a succession of inviting crosses into the Chelsea box – one of which was nodded in by Llorente.

Should Davies be ruled out for an extended period of time (rotation being an issue for Fantasy managers in the left-back position at Spurs), Rose might be an interesting differential for the coming weeks given that the Lilywhites face a triple-header at Wembley and, of course, now enjoy a fixture in Gameweek 27.

Pochettino downplayed the severity of Davies’ groin strain in his post-match press conference, however, also alleviating any fears that Moussa Sissoko (£4.9m) had suffered a setback on his return from injury:

Sissoko is okay, tired I think. A small thing for Ben Davies. The rest are okay.

Small injury, Davies, in his groin. It is good that he’s not an offensive player. We have a lot of defensive players so it is good for balance. Four, five or six centre-backs, five full-backs. I am not worried.

Llorente struggled until his goal but that 52nd-minute header looked to instil some confidence in the striker before he made way for the fit-again Lucas Moura (£6.8m).

Pochettino said of the former Swansea forward, who was hooked midway through the second half:

Yes, of course, he will have more chances to play. I am so happy with him.

It’s difficult to be Harry Kane’s back-up, one of the greatest strikers in the world. This is an opportunity to play more.

But he played 90 minutes against Fulham after not playing for a long period. We need to manage him in the best way.

Despite a much-improved display after half-time, Spurs failed to muddy Kepa Arrizabalaga‘s (£5.6m) gloves after Llorente’s strike.

The otherwise quiet Christian Eriksen (£9.4m) set up Llorente for a volley with a superb pass, while Lucas got on the end of an accurate punt from Gazzaniga to fire into the side-netting – but other than that, Spurs created little of note.

Pochettino was proud of his patched-up side, though:

Disappointed to lose in that way but it can happen. It was a signal that we fought and were brave, and in all the circumstances we played really well. Until we conceded the first goal, I think we were in control of the game. I told the players in the first half that the way we played from the back in the first half, it was one of the best games that we’ve played. Of course, it was tough to arrive in the last third. Until we conceded the first goal I think it was under control but then we conceded the second goal quickly.

It was tough in that period but, in the second half, we changed something in the team and started to play in a different way, and it was difficult for Chelsea to adapt and read the situation or try to stop us. We started to control the game, that is why we scored and had a few chances more. Only I can feel proud, with all the circumstances, to arrive to penalties in that tough period for us.

Kieran Trippier (£6.1m) wasn’t involved in west London, though there was no reason given for his absence before or after the match.

Dier and Lucas were the two Spurs players to miss from the spot, incidentally, as Chelsea scored with all four of their efforts.

Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Emerson; Jorginho, Kante, Barkley (Kovacic 81′); Pedro (Willian 76′), Giroud, Hazard. 

Tottenham Hotspur XI (4-3-1-2): Gazzaniga; Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies (Rose 33′); Dier, Winks, Sissoko (Sanchez 80′); Eriksen; Lamela, Llorente (Lucas Moura 68′). 

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