Chelsea suffered a late collapse to lose 5-2 to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Here are some key talking points we’ve picked out from the Parc des Princes.
RESULT
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | PSG (a) | 5-2 loss | Gusto, Enzo | Enzo, Neto |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Changes from GW29 | Players who kept their places (+ mins) | Other players (+ mins) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 2 | Jorgensen (90), Fofana (90), Chalobah (90), James (90), Caicedo (90), Enzo (90), Gusto (88), Palmer (83), J Pedro (83) | Cucurella (90), Neto (90), Lavia (7), Delap (7), Garnacho (2) |
JORGENSEN KEEPS HIS SPOT… BUT WILL IT LAST?
A day after Tottenham suffered a goalkeeping calamity, Chelsea fell foul of one themselves.
Their’s perhaps wasn’t quite as bad as Spurs’, admittedly, but the game state meant Filip Jorgensen’s (£4.3m) error proved just as pivotal.
With the scores at 2-2 after Chelsea had twice fought back from a goal down, a slack pass out from the back by the Dane was intercepted by Bradley Barcola. Vitinha then deftly lobbed the Blues’ keeper to make it 3-2, and PSG never looked back again.
There has been plenty of turmoil between the posts at Stamford Bridge in recent weeks, with Jorgensen usurping previous undisputed No 1 Robert Sanchez (£4.9m) for the Aston Villa trip in Gameweek 29 and doing so to great effect.
Sanchez was then back in the net for a ropey, rotation-laden FA Cup win at Wrexham last weekend, and Liam Rosenior would not be drawn on which man he would start in Paris.
Rosenior clearly thought Jorgensen was the right choice, but although he initially performed well, he was at fault for PSG’s third and fifth goals.
“Credit to him. He held his hands up in the dressing room. Mistakes happen. I make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes they’re more costly and more painful than other times. This is one of those moments.” – Liam Rosenior on Filip Jorgensen
The Chelsea head coach subsequently gave us plenty of insight into his goalkeeping dilemma without a clear-cut answer as to who will start against Newcastle United in Gameweek 30.
“They have different qualities. Rob is outstanding from crosses, an outstanding shot-stopper. I am trying to win in the short term and win in the long term as well. Filip has different qualities and one of his qualities, which he showed against Aston Villa. One of the reasons we won 4-1 at Aston Villa, we were so calm in our possession moments, which we weren’t before, not just on Rob but on the whole team. Coming here against a really high-pressing team, if you stay calm and play through the initial pressure, you can cause a lot of problems, which we did.
“It’s just painful that we’ve made that mistake in that moment to make the game 3-2 and we are in a very, very difficult position in this tie now with the end result. What we have to do for Rob and for Filip and for all of the players is look after each other. This is a big test of our character. We have a huge game in two days against Newcastle that we need to get back for. I want to see the real reaction, the resilience in the next game.” – Liam Rosenior
ENZO HAUL, PALMER + PEDRO BLANK
On a more positive note, Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) was the best player on the park for the visitors.
His clever switch of play found Malo Gusto (£4.9m) in acres of space in PSG’s box to restore parity the first time, before he rifled home a Pedro Neto (£7.0m) cutback to put Chelsea level at 2-2.
That was one of his two shots on the night, which is more than Cole Palmer (£10.6m) – again playing on the right of a 4-2-3-1, with Enzo the central No 10 – managed, with the England man’s first half chance a promising one that probably should have been buried.
Palmer then faded a little after the break and was given a slightly earlier breather, replaced by Romeo Lavia (£4.9m) with 83 minutes gone.
In-form man Joao Pedro (£7.7m), scorer of many a goal under Rosenior recently, led the line and led his team with three total shots, but failed to make good contact with an early James cross and later had a would-be 3-3 leveller ruled out for offside.
Palmer and Pedro were both withdrawn just a few minutes before Kvaratskhelia scored the first of his two goals, to make it 4-2, but there has been no suggestion of any injury issues. More likely, Rosenior was just looking to freshen things up for one last push which ultimately fell flat anyway.
GUSTO GOAL, JAMES IN MIDFIELD
Gusto was another of Chelsea’s top performers in Paris, putting in a solid defensive shift at right-back and also scoring his third goal for the Blues.
That’s his third ever as well as his third this season, to go with three assists in the league (including one last week).
James, technically still a positional rival to the 22-year-old Frenchman but sometimes playing at the base of midfield alongside Moises Caicedo (£5.7m) these days, put in another good shift in the middle of the park.
DEFENSIVE LEAKS CONTINUE
It was a brave game plan from the visitors, seeking to take on the reigning European champions at their own game with aggressive pressing from the get-go.
That included a dangerously high line, with Wesley Fofana (£4.4m) chasing Ousmane Dembele around and Trevoh Chalobah (£5.6m) remaining the deeper of the two central defenders.
However, Chelsea’s unreadiness for this style of play, at least at this level, was perhaps best exemplified by Palmer’s promising first half chance – set up by James – being saved and PSG scoring 14 seconds later to make it 2-1, given so many visiting players had committed to the previous attack and then went for tackles rather than standing their ground.
That said, it was a ruthless performance from the holders, who scored five times from 0.83 expected goals (xG).
Despite having among the best fixtures in the division from Rosenior’s first match in Gameweek 22 until now, Chelsea have recorded just one clean sheet (in that very first game) from eight Premier League matches. That’s fewer than 13 other clubs.
