Chelsea v PSG - Three Reasons Chelsea Will Qualify
by Jeremy Comparato | by Jeremy Comparato
Chelsea v PSG
PSG will take a slender 2-1 lead to London after an evenly contested first leg at the Parc des Princes. Talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic and super-sub Edinson Cavani will the all important goals for the Paris giants. John Obi Mikel struck just before half-time to secure a vital away goal for the travelling side and send their fans wild with delight. Three months ago, PSG would have seen their match with Chelsea as a training exercise, but now after the blue’s revival and recent results things might not be as simple.
Chelsea’s form under Hiddink
Towards the end of Mourinho’s reign, Chelsea were a train wreck. Stories of training camp bust ups and a massive lack in communication between management and players resulted in defeat after defeat. Players were frozen out and were refused chances in the wilting side. Since the sacking of the « Special One » and Hiddink taking over, Chelsea seem like their old efficient self. The Chelsea of old would grind out a victory and would rarely surrender a lead. In their most recent game Chelsea slipped up against a solid Stoke City side. Young rising star Bertrand Traore had a fine first half strike cancelled out by a Diouf header late in the second half. The Blues rested Fabregas and Costa as Hiddink looked to avoid any unnecessary injuries.
The turning point of Chelsea’s season was their 1-0 victory away to Arsenal. If it was possible to look up a Chelsea away win in the dictionary, you would see an extremely efficient 1-0 win with the goal coming from a tidy move down the wing . That has been Chelsea’s main selling point over the years, going away to a title rival and nulling their attack with clever tactics and grit. This is what Willian and Co. will need to stop a powerful PSG side.
With a strikeforce that includes Ibrahimovic, Di Maria and Lucas, Hiddink will need to have his tactics on point to stop some of the world’s best attackers. Chelsea seem to be able to pull a massive performance out of the bag at this stage of the competition. Look back to their last gasp 2-0 defeat of PSG two years ago and their miraculous comeback against Napoli in 2012. Both results came after away losses in the previous leg. With the form Chelsea are in, coming away with a textbook 1-0 win, is well within their capabilities - .
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PSG have hit a Bump
As Chelsea’s form is drastically improving, PSG have hit a bump in the league for the first time this season. Their unbeaten record came to a crashing end as they went down 2-1 away to Lyon. That was only their second loss all season. Carnet and Darder will the goals before the interval. Brazilian Lucas managed to pull a goal back after half time but it wasn’t enough. This slump continued at the weekend as Paris were held to a goalless draw at home to Montpellier. It is the last thing Laurent Blanc wanted as this could well be a season defining tie for the French champions. Even though Paris rested Matudi, Veratti and Di Maria management will still be worried by how easy the Lyon attackers seemed to slip inbetween the lines.
In the first leg Willian, Pedro and Hazard seemed to break at ease from midfield and find their men without too much pressure, especially in the second half. Even with a few first teamers missing PSG seemed uncharacteristically sloppy and vunerable at the back. The second goal will put hope in Chelsea eyes as Darder easily controlled the ball in the box before flicking it over Thiago Silva’s head and finishing with ease - .
Silva, seen as one of the greatest centre-halfs in modern football was made look like a rookie. Surely Costa and his partners in crime will target the usually reliable Brazilian. Along with Silva is a man well known to Chelsea fans. David Luiz spent two and a half years in West London and was very successful. Although, he had the tendency to lose his concentration and was guilty of making crucial mistakes more than once during his spell with the London giants. He is extremely good on the ball but tries to do very unnecessary things which can sometimes lead to the oppostion scoring. Luiz will be highlighted by the Chelsea tacticians as a weakness before the game kicks off.
Costa back to his old self?
In Chelsea’s title winning campaign, the Spaniard notched up an impressive 21 goals in all competitions. He hit the ground running in his debut season scoring seven goals in his first four league games. This season didn’t start as smoothly. With plenty of reports suggesting Mourinho wanted to offload the mercurial striker in the summer, Costa returned to the starting line-up with a different and rather strange attitude. From the get go his relationship with Mourinho seem frail and tense, which affected his performances.
The Brazilian born striker only managed four goals under Mourinho all season, but since Guus Hiddink has taken the wheel the former Atletico Madrid frontman has netted ten goals in his last fourteen appearances. He seems back to his destructive best as he isn’t getting carried away with some of the antics that plagued his early season form. Diego Costa is a handful for any defense and on his day he is one of the best strikers in Europe. Good in air and a brilliant finisher, the big Spanish striker’s battle with David Luiz is sure to wet the appetite of every football fan. Luiz, Silva and Costa had a few coming togethers in this fixture last season but Costa seems more settled now and will want to get the better of the Brazilian partnership - .
