Through December and January of the 2017/18 season, Chelsea kept six clean sheets across seven matches. A run which included no fewer than FOUR nil-nil draws. I cannot confirm nor deny that the lack of goals from Chelsea's attack, which led to a needless and expensive FA Cup replay, saw one's temper bubble over at Stamford Bridge. I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to name and shame the person who shouted at and potentially grabbed a stranger's arm during the subsequent penalty shootout...
Barring some sort of exceptional implosion across the remaining fixtures, Chelsea have placed the fate of Champions League knockout qualification firmly within their own hands. Hopefully the draw for the next stage will be as kind as the Group Stage was. No Bavarian surprises.
Kai Havertz was meant to be in the Wednesday night's starting lineup, but has tested positive for coronavirus. Frank Lampard confirmed that the rest of the squad was fine and he was self-isolating. However this means he will be unavailable until after the next international break. A shame as he has been starting to find his rhythm and etch out a place in the team.
It took just ten minutes for Chelsea to open the scoring. Timo Werner won himself another penalty and after his impressive strike against Krasnodar, Jorginho stepped aside for the German to convert it himself. He slotted it into the bottom right corner.
Just before the break, VAR decided that the match was over. Dalbert of first penalty fame decided to make himself big like he was trying to scare a bear as Tammy Abraham took a shot. After striking his leg, the ball bounced and hit one of his outstretched arms. After a lengthy old look at the monitor, not only was Chelsea awarded a penalty, but Dalbert was given a second yellow and therefore his marching orders.
The ice man that is Timo Werner struck his second penalty with even more confidence as he sent it into the roof of the net. Rennes found themselves two goals and a man down at the break. While on occasion a team with a man down does make the step up and surprises their opposition, this was not one of those occasions. Not to say Rennes did not have a solid outing - but they never really got back into it.
It did not take long for Chelsea to find their third and final goal of the evening. Just five minutes into the second half Reece James whipped in a cross that Tammy Abraham found.
Frank Lampard lobbied for the Premier League to keep the five substitutes rule for the season. While he was overruled domestically, UEFA saw sense to try and preserve the fitness of players in a very strange season. So it is unsurprising with the game in control that Lampard made use of all five substitutes.
Not only did it allow Thiago Silva to have the rest of the evening off, but Antonio Rudiger was given the opportunity to play. Again. We'll just whisper it here but it looks like Frank Lampard has forgiven him for whatever transpired between the two of them.
Olivier Giroud was also given some minutes to keep his fitness up for Euros next summer. And while he didn't score, he did make the most of his time on the pitch and a case for more appearances going forward. Outside of the goal itself he had the best chance of the second half narrowly missing to convert.
jb x
RESULT: Chelsea 3-0 Rennes
GOALS: Werner 10, Werner 41, Abraham 50
CHELSEA XI: Mendy, James, Zouma, Thiago Silva (Rudiger 68), Chilwell (Emerson 63), Kante (Kovacic 62), Jorginho, Mount, Ziyech (Hudson-Odoi 75), Werner, Abraham (Giroud 63)
STAR MAN: Timo Werner
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