Chelsea stumble against Roma as problems mount for Conte
The last time Chelsea lost back-to-back Premier League matches came back in the infancy of Antonio Conte’s time in charge of the Blues. The second of those two defeats, a 3-0 loss at Arsenal, prompted Conte to change to a three-man defence and kickstarted that record-matching 13-game winning run stretching from the beginning of October to the start of January. That streak played a decisive role in Chelsea’s eventual title win, but Conte faced a much tougher task to return to winning ways on Wednesday night.
The visit to Hull provided the ideal opportunity to get back on track last season, but the welcome of Roma in the Champions League presented a tougher test for the defending Premier League champions. While Eusebio Di Francesco’s Giallorossi outfit lack the panache of Luciano Spalletti’s Roma side prior to his Inter appointment, the capital outfit are still a match for any side on their day, even with injuries to Patrick Schick and Kostas Manolas, among others, and so it proved at Stamford Bridge.
Despite going 2-0 down, Roma salvaged a 3-3 draw in west London, though they themselves sacrificed a 3-2 lead as neither team could capitalise on Atletico Madrid’s 0-0 draw with Qarabag earlier in the evening. On the balance of play, a draw was probably a fair result, but the turning point came in David Luiz’s withdrawal early in the second half. The Brazilian, who had fired Chelsea ahead with a sumptuous 25 yard effort, started the stalemate in midfield as Conte sought balance for his side.
Regardless of Tiemoue Bakayoko and Cesc Fabregas’ impressive outings in the 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace at the weekend, Chelsea missed a defensive shield to anchor the midfield in the wake of N’Golo Kante’s absence. Luiz provided the necessary tenacity off the ball to hound Roma as and when they encroached upon the Chelsea 18-yard box. Indeed, despite injury forcing him off 11 minutes after the restart, Luiz made more tackles (7) than any other player in the enthralling 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge to help earn a WhoScored rating of 8.19.
The only issue here, however, was that the Brazilian’s passing was found wanting on a night when calm heads were required. As good as Luiz was at winning possession, a pass success rate of just 77.8% left a lot to be desired in the Champions League tie. While his injury comes at a bad time for Chelsea and Conte, for Roma and the neutrals, Luiz’s withdrawal presented a more open, free flowing match and the encounter duly lived up to expectations. Roma had threatened in the first half and were, for large parts, the better side before Eden Hazard scored the first of his two goals. Aleksandar Kolarov halved the deficit before this interval, but Roma rightly sought the full prize once Chelsea lost their holding midfielder.
Edin Dzeko, who had been kept relatively quiet in the opening 45 minutes, exploded into life just after the hour mark to score a goal of the highest quality, the Bosnian latching onto a Federico Fazio long ball upfield to rifle a stunning volley past Thibaut Courtois. That goal was his first against Chelsea in his career and he doubled that return six minutes later to head in a Kolarov cross to put Roma ahead before Hazard’s equaliser with 15 minutes to play. However, as entertaining an encounter it may have been, the stalemate merely highlighted how disorganised Conte’s side are at present.
Edin Dzeko’s first goal tonight was also his first against Chelsea in his career and boy was it worth the wait 😱 https://t.co/qHdLnukqUZ
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) October 18, 2017
A run of three matches without victory is their worst run under the Italian and brings about the pitfalls of a return to European action. Chelsea routinely sauntered to victory with consummate ease last season following the switch to a three-man defence due to the lack weekly action, meaning the squad remained relatively injury free and gave the Italian plenty of time to prepare accordingly for the opposition. However, with the games coming thick and fast, Chelsea and the players are struggling with the demands of regular football.
“We have players in our team who are not used to playing three games in a week,” Conte highlighted early in the week, citing Kante, Victor Moses and Alvaro Morata as examples. The Spain international returned to first team action on Wednesday, but Chelsea remain without Kante and Moses until next month, at the earliest. Factor in Danny Drinkwater’s ongoing calf problem and the injuries Luiz, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Gary Cahill sustained tonight, and the squad looks thin, particularly in midfield. The welcome of high flying Watford on Saturday presents another potential banana skin for Conte as he looks to correct Chelsea’s worrying form. Failure to do so will see the Blues lose further ground in their bid to defend their Premier League crown.
