Dry Turkey, Copious amount of Alcohol, Darts at Alexandra Palace and Boxing Day Football. The four staples of a good Christmas Break.
Only there was no Boxing Day game for us Chelsea fans this year. We had to wait until the 27th. Thank you Premier League and Amazon Prime. No seriously, thank you.
The journey to Stamford Bridge from my parents is long enough without there being no overground trains. Having to drive to Cockfosters and then suffer through 24 stops on the Piccadilly line before you get to Earls Court is enough to drive the most patient man insane.
I also have my own personal unwritten rule. Having watched Michael Obafemi and Nathan Redmond rip us apart on Boxing Day 2019 there are now few occasions that would drag me back into the ground on such a day.
Anyway, I must say, I’ve rather enjoyed the last month and a half. I suspect that has something to do with the fact that Chelsea haven’t kicked a single football competitively in that entire time.
Despite our home form being relatively poor, with us not winning a league game in 79 days. It was nice to have some familiarity back with a trip to SW6 and not even the endless downpour could’ve put a dent in our spirits.
A few pints of Asahi in the Blackbird pre-match further geared me up for the big occasion and I truly knew it was business as usual as 5,000 people clambered onto one carriage on the District Line train for the short journey for Earls Court to Fulham Broadway.
Whilst I thought odds of 7/1 for Bournemouth to win represented great value, a loss to the team that were battered 9-0 by Liverpool would’ve been indefensible.
I thought the first half was the best I’ve seen us play in three or so months, since we beat AC Milan at home. We looked completely dominant and actually seemed to know what we were doing on the ball in the final third of the pitch. Kai Havertz and Mason Mount were outstanding and Raheem Sterling’s ball to Havertz to open up the deadlock was perfectly weighted.
All in all, whilst a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth was not the most exciting, it would’ve been a relatively good result. That was of course until I saw Reece James go down shortly into the second half and we seemingly lost all control of the game.
The overall impact of this injury cannot be overstated. I am absolutely gutted for Reece as he simply cannot catch a break at the moment. Having seen Hazard injury-free year after year, it feels cruel that two of our best players since in Kanté and Reece James have been injured on and off for the last three years.
Whilst it looks like it will prove to be a somewhat minor setback with him out for a further three or four weeks, I really hope he can settle down for the rest of the season injury-free.
All in all, I think there are some good signs from yesterday’s performance. The World Cup looks to have provided a big break for Kai Havertz in particular and whilst his country may have struggled, he was still a standout player. With this being his third season in England, he simply needs to rack up another 10 goals if he doesn’t want to tempt the club into selling in the summer.
It’s imperative we get three points on New Years Day against Nottingham Forest. The Manchester City game four days after is unfortunately timed to say the least, as the next few games could’ve been a great chance to build momentum and really allow us to implement the style of play Potter is aiming for.
The post-game debrief in ‘The Wolfpack’ after revealed similar feelings from all about the game. An excellent first half which was unfortunately overshadowed by the Reece James injury which changed the course of the game. How much of that was our own mentality vs the genuine affect he has on our team remains to be seen. I lean towards the latter.
I’ve elected not to travel up to Nottingham on New Year’s Day so the next blog post will in all likelihood detail our home game to Manchester City on January 4th. That being said, there is a small chance I’ll upload a “flaskback” game of sorts from earlier in the season if I’m bored.
The Shed Diaries 