Jorginho, Chelsea blushes spared as top four all but secure
It looked as though Jorginho’s 87th minute penalty atrocity would be the perfect and deserved end to a dire Chelsea performance, only for one bit of quality to spare the Brazilian’s blushes.
It was the flattest of flat football games. West Ham, resting their key players ahead of the Europa League semi-final, understandably didn’t particularly care about the result. Chelsea, with less than they had hoped would be at stake at this stage of the season, appeared to care even less.
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Chelsea were two points ahead of Arsenal with two games in hand before kick-off, with seven games remaining against teams they are comfortably better than. No-one could stop Chelsea finishing in the top four, but Chelsea are seemingly hell-bent on doing everything possible to stop themselves. Champions League football next season wasn’t – and still isn’t quite – a certainty; someone needed to tell the players.
The atmosphere, owing to the empty seats and lacklustre display, was one of a pre-season game, without the excitement at seeing new signings or burgeoning young talents. Chelsea groans peppered West Ham chants of “Stamford Bridge is falling down”, with the fortress that had seen the Hammers win just once in their previous 15 visits now just a very nice place for a kickabout on a Sunday afternoon.
It’s laughable that this team was putting Real Madrid to the sword less than two weeks ago. The first half display was the antithesis of that showing in the Bernabeu: slow; no energy; no quality; mistake-ridden.
The second half was far better but far from great. The stats – 67 per cent possession, 26 shots to West Ham’s six – suggest domination and misfortune, and there was a degree of both. Chelsea had West Ham pinned back for a lot of that second period and shots were blocked, deflected unfavourably and Lukasz Fabianski was forced into a couple of decent saves. But had Christian Pulisic not scored the late winner, no Chelsea fan could have walked away from that game with any real gripe over the result.
They would have had every right to feel a little peeved with Jorginho, though. The Brazilian – who had scored nine penalties from nine this season – was handed the opportunity to add a tenth after Romelu Lukaku was tugged to the ground by Craig Dawson. Apparently the key for Chelsea to get something, anything, out of Lukaku is to get him into situations where he doesn’t need to touch the ball. There’s certainly irony in Dawson being shown a red card for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Guys, it was Lukaku.
That said, Chelsea would have been better off with the Belgian striker leathering the penalty rather than Jorginho giving it a tickle. The whole point of his silly little hop is to wait for the goalkeeper to make a move, but Fabianski went late and Jorginho looked very daft indeed as he passed it into his hands. He still looked embarrassed after his blushes were spared four minutes later.
Now down to ten men, there were gaps in the West Ham rearguard and Alonso took advantage. His ball from the left wing was pulled back perfectly for a late run from Pulisic, who calmly slotted the ball into the far corner.
A wave of relief came over Stamford Bridge, as they ended a run of three consecutive home defeats and gave themselves breathing space in their bid for Champions League qualification. They now need just nine points from their remaining six games to be sure of a place in the top four. It’s as good as done, but for the love of God don’t tell the players – we can’t sit through that again.
