CHELSEA 4-0 CRYSTAL PALACE
- Goals: Ben Chilwell (£5.5m), Kurt Zouma (£5.0m), Jorginho x2 (£5.1m)
- Assists: Chilwell, Tammy Abraham (£7.3m), Kai Havertz (£8.4m)
- Bonus: Chilwell x3, Jorginho x2, Zouma x1
Timo Werner (£9.4m) continues to frustrate his FPL ownership after a third consecutive blank in Gameweek 4 against Crystal Palace.
Just after full time at Stamford Bridge in the weekend’s early kick-off, only benched team-mate Reece James (£5.1m) had suffered more sales than the Germany forward.
Having at least managed to get off a goal attempt every 27 minutes over the first three gameweeks, Werner only had one shot against the Eagles.
WERN YOUR PENALTIES
Having taken a 2-0 lead through Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) and Kurt Zouma (£5.0m), Chelsea won two penalties for fouls on Tammy Abraham (£7.3m) and Kai Havertz (£8.4m).
The midfielder pulled rank on Werner for the first spot-kick, while captain Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.9m) had to take the ball from Abraham in order to give Jorginho his second penalty of the day.
On the issue, Lampard stated:
“It’s been dealt with. On the pitch and in the dressing room. No problems, just dealt with. I want leaders and I don’t mind a little bit of conflict. If Tammy wants to take it because he wants a goal, he can get put in his place a little bit and I appreciate his eagerness because his performance deserved a goal. But those are the rules. You don’t jump ahead of the list at any moment, unless maybe someone’s on a hat-trick and we’re so comfortable that I decide.” – Frank Lampard
While we already knew that Jorginho was Chelsea’s first-choice penalty taker, Lampard failed to provide the rest of the “list”.
And unfortunately for Werner’s ownership, still not getting near spot-kick duty probably counts against him even more than it would in a normal campaign.
HOT START FOR CHILWELL
Former Leicester defender Chilwell broke the deadlock after 50 minutes, firing past Vicente Guaita (£5.0m) after an error from Mamadou Sakho (£4.5m) saw Tyrick Mitchell (£4.1m) head an Azpilicueta cross back into the box where the Chelsea left-back pounced.
And it was Chilwell’s cross, following a cleared corner, which Zouma rose highest to head home above Sakho.
Having seen Willian (£8.0m) depart for Arsenal in the summer, Chelsea were left without their main set-piece taker.
With James on the bench and Hakim Ziyech (£7.9m) still injured, Chilwell took all but one of the Blues’ corners at Stamford Bridge, while also having a share of free-kicks to boost his assist potential.
The defender also had 13 more final-third touches than any other player on show at Stamford Bridge. On his new left-back, Lampard explained:
“[He’s got that] ability to be so high up the pitch when you want him to be – not that he’s reckless but he arrives, he’s got the capacity to get up and get back. Great quality on the ball. In terms of the signings we’ve brought in, he knows the Premier League. It’s just been a case of his fitness. They’ve all had issues a little bit, the lads that have come in. Whether they’re injured, not had enough pre-season – we have to give those boys a little bit of time.” – Ben Chilwell
EAGLES FAIL TO FLY
While Chilwell excelled going forward, the fact that new Chelsea stopper Edouard Mendy (£5.0m) faced zero shots on target is evidence that Lampard’s defence will face sterner tests.
Hodgson was all too aware that despite an impressive first half where Palace stifled their hosts, an early second-half goal put paid to their plans of containment.
“We conceded four and unfortunately all four were very clear individual errors at the back. And when that happens, it’s hard to come back from it unless you’ve got a clear attacking threat – we didn’t have that today. We didn’t have that at any stage of the game. In the first half our defending was good, our off-the-ball work was excellent. But on the ball we didn’t show the composure or the confidence that I would’ve liked the team to show. Against a team that pressurises well like Chelsea did today, it was always going to be a question of making certain that they didn’t score one. Unfortunately we’ve gifted them a goal after 50 minutes and to compound everything, we gifted them two goals at the end with the two penalties. There was some poor performances out there today, that’s for sure. The players are more than aware [of that].” – Roy Hodgson
Budget defender Mitchell was the guilty party for the first spot-kick, while Sakho compounded his own poor performance by giving away the second penalty.
Asked specifically about Wilfried Zaha‘s (£7.2m) lack of involvement, Hodgson added:
“You’ve got to work hard to get those touches for yourself.” – Roy Hodgson
On what changed for his team in the second half, Lampard explained:
“The message at half time was change it up – more speed, more movements, change it up. Not too many put four past Palace. First half we started well but then we came off it a little bit. Not enough speed in our game last 20 minutes of the first half. The urgency of our game; we had to mix it up. The way we started [in the second half], there was a bit more movement. We had to get Ben Chilwell into the game, he was arriving in high areas but we weren’t finding him.” – Frank Lampard
Chelsea XI (4-2-3-1): E Mendy; Chilwell, Zouma, T Silva, Azpilicueta; Kanté (Kovacic 83′), Jorginho; Werner, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi (Pulisic 83′); Abraham.
Crystal Palace XI (4-4-2): Guaita; Mitchell, Sakho, Kouyaté, J Ward; Eze, McArthur (Riedewald 71′), McCarthy (Milivojevic 67′), Townsend; Zaha, Ayew.
PREMIUM MEMBERS ANALYSIS
Werner’s touch heatmap (above) is indicative of his lack of touches in the penalty area; the forward managed just two over 90 minutes.
While the statistics will not show that the German made plenty of good runs, he failed to make telling contributions on the rare occasion a team-mate found him in space.
Christian Pulisic (£8.3m) released Werner at the halfway line almost immediately after being introduced but the forward’s lack of incisiveness allowed the Palace defence to regroup, snuffing out any danger.
Six players attempted more shots than Werner at Stamford Bridge in Gameweek 4, with Lampard’s comments on Abraham’s performance perhaps suggesting that the English striker may continue as Chelsea’s frontman.
As mentioned above, Chilwell (41) lead the way for final-third touches. His total of 68 touches in the opposition half was also 13 more than next-best Jorginho.
Lessons Learned from FPL Gameweek 4
- Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace
- Everton 4-2 Brighton and Hove Albion
- Leeds United 1-1 Manchester City
- Newcastle United 3-1 Burnley
- Leicester City 0-3 West Ham United
- Southampton 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
- Arsenal 2-1 Sheffield United
- Wolves 1-0 Fulham
- Manchester United 1-6 Tottenham Hotspur
- Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool
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3 years, 6 months agoWho is a better pick -
A. Ayling
B. Dallas
Reasons would be appreciated.