Daily Mail - 19.08.2019



THE VERDICT: PREMIER LEAGUE

T

HREE matches into

his Chelsea reign and

still Frank Lampard

waits for a perform-

ance lasting the

duration of a game.

He got about half an hour out of

his players as they capitulated at

Manchester United last Sunday

and a good bit more as they lost

a penalty shootout to Liverpool

in Istanbul in the Super Cup

three days later. If their efforts in

Turkey represented progress, here

there was only regression. After a

blistering start that saw Chelsea

score through Mason Mount in the

seventh minute, they fell away

alarmingly.

Fortunately for Chelsea’s new

manager, his team took a point. So

a losing sequence stops at two.

But had Leicester’s finishing been

a little better and had the final

pass from an increasingly rampant

midfield been a little cuter,

Lampard’s first game at home

would have ended in defeat.

Leicester’s James Maddison was

magnificent in the second half. He

plays with such energy, the young

Englishman represents an unstop-

pable force when he gets his blood

up. Here, though, he missed a glo-

rious late chance to bury Chelsea.

How he drove the ball over from

eight yards with only Chelsea goal-

keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to beat,

only he will know. A rush of blood,

we can only presume. Would Chel-

sea have recovered from that with

only 15 or so minutes to go? It did

not look likely.

So Chelsea will need to be much

better than this to prosper against

Norwich at Carrow Road on

Saturday.

Tiredness may

have played a

part after extra

time against

Liverpool in

midweek. Chel-

sea could not

maintain their

early tempo

but what may

concern Lam-

pard is the way that his

team failed to close

this game down once

they lost their attack-

ing momentum. There

is a way to play when

you start to feel heavy

in the legs and this

was not it.

Despite the

presence of

two defen-

sively-minded

players in his

midfield, Lam-

pard saw his

team leave

huge holes in

the centre.

Leicester will

not be allowed to play in so much

space away from home all season.

Their only regret is that they didn’t

capitalise.

Early on, it seemed as though

Chelsea might bury them. The

home team started so quickly they

threatened to roll over Leicester

before we had even played half an

hour. Had they taken one of the

couple of the chances that fol-

lowed Mount’s first Chelsea goal

then they may well have done.

The Spaniard Pedro almost

scored in the first minute as he

volleyed a dropping ball into the

side netting and then Leicester

goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel

made a good double save to deny

Mount and Christian Pulisic. From

the corner that followed Leicester

right back Ricardo Pereira cleared

a ball from the line.

Leicester at this stage looked

disorganised and ragged while

Chelsea were vibrant. Visiting

manager Brendan Rodgers waited

patiently for his team to ride out

the storm but they couldn’t. It was

an awful goal to concede, too.

Schmeichel played a short ball to

Jonny Evans that was perhaps a

little over-deliberate and when he

funnelled it on to Wilfred Ndidi

Leicester were soon in trouble.

Ndidi is usually a composed and

reliable presence in front of his

defence but he dallied in posses-

sion and when Mount nipped the

ball off his toe the Chelsea young-

ster ran on to screw it back across

Schmeichel and into the corner

with his right foot. Schmeichel

possibly could have done better

and looked a little off balance. But

the blame lay elsewhere and

Leicester were now facing a prob-

lem purely of their own making.

For a while Chelsea continued to

press. Mount might have done

better than head a Cesar

Azpilicueta cross straight at the

goalkeeper in the 21st minute

before only a tackle from Leicester

central defender Caglar Soyuncu

prevented Lampard’s team from

scoring one of the goals of the

season five minutes later.

Full back Emerson advanced

IAN

LADYMAN

Football Editor at

Stamford Bridge

1

1

Ndidi 66

LEICESTER

Mount 7

CHELSEA

CHASING SHADOWS

LEAVES CHELSEA

MAGIC MADDISON

Late referee saved by a novice

REFEREES’ chiefs were

lucky Oliver Langford

avoided controversy on

his Premier League debut.

It saved the PGMOL severe

embarrassment after

Graham Scott, the man

who was supposed to be

referee, got stuck in traffic

and had to be replaced by

a novice. Langford did well

but questions need to be

answered. Scott was the

VAR official at Stockley

Park for Manchester City

versus Tottenham on

Saturday, so why not stay

over ahead of your fixture

the next day? That is what

normally happens, with PL

officials told to meet four

hours ahead of matches.

Instead, Scott was stuck on

the M40 when he should

have been reporting for

duty, and he might find

himself in trouble with his

bosses. I always planned

ahead if I had to travel.

Once, ahead of an Arsenal

match, my flight to London

was cancelled. Then the

trains were playing up. So

I turned to my third option

and drove. I made sure I

was never late.

MARK

CLATTENBURG

MY VERDICT

THE PREMIER

LEAGUE IN

SIXTY

SECONDS

1

TEEMU PUKKI’S hat-trick

against Newcastle means

Norwich are the 21st club to

score a Premier League

hat-trick since a Manchester

United player last did. Five of

those 21 teams aren’t currently

in the Premier League. The last

United player to hit a treble in

the league was Robin van

Persie in April 2013.

FRANK JOINS RAFA

IN UNWANTED CLUB

CAN REDS EMULATE

CLASS OF 1990?

HOME COMFORTS

IN their game against Crystal

Palace yesterday, Sheffield

United became the first team

since Norwich City in April

2012 to name a fully British

and Irish starting XI in

consecutive Premier League

games. The newly-promoted

Blades started the match with

five Englishmen, four

Irishmen, one Northern

Irishman and one Scotsman.

LIVERPOOL have won 11 league

games in a row and are now

just one win away from

matching their all-time

record from 1990. Here are

the 12 consecutive games

Kenny Dalglish’s side won in

the First Division that year:

Apr 21: Chelsea (h)................ 4-1

Apr 28: QPR (h)....................... 2-1

May 1: Derby (h).................... 1-0

May 5: Coventry (a).............. 6-1

Aug 25: Sheffield United (a) 3-1

Aug 28: Nottm Forest (h)...... 2-0

Sep 1: Aston Villa (h)............. 2-1

Sep 8: Wimbledon (a)......... 2-1

Sep 16: Man United (h).......... 4-0

Sep 22: Everton (a).............. 3-2

Sep 29: Sunderland (a)........ 1-0

Oct 6: Derby (h).................... 2-0

Liverpool’s top scorer on that

run was John Barnes with

nine goals, while their top

scorer on their current run is

Sadio Mane, who has also hit

nine.

97

SERGIO AGUERO’S goal

against Tottenham on

Saturday was his 97th Premier

League goal at the Etihad

Stadium. Only Thierry Henry

with 114 at Highbury and Wayne

Rooney with 101 at Old Trafford

have scored more at a ground

in the competition. The

Argentine hotshot has scored

27 times in his last 21 Premier

League starts at the Etihad.

IN the last 25 years only Frank

Lampard and Rafa Benitez

have failed to win any of their

first three games in charge of

Chelsea. If his side don’t beat

Norwich on Saturday, Lampard

will be the first Blues boss to

go winless in his opening four

since Bobby Campbell in 1988.