Chelsea Opinion: Pedro and Giroud starred in the 4-3 victory over Slavia at home
Chelsea progressed to the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League with a nervous 4-3 victory over Czech outfit Slavia Prague at Stamford Bridge in the second leg on Thursday night, thanks to a brace from Pedro.
The Blues played poorly in the first leg away from home but Marco Alonso’s late winner ensured that Maurizio Sarri’s team carried a slender advantage into the home fixture at Stamford Bridge.
The fans would have expected Chelsea to make easy work of Slavia at home and it looked as if the Blues were in for an absolute cakewalk when they scored thrice within the opening 17 minutes.
In the opening stages of the first half, a rampant Chelsea side spearheaded by the trip of Giroud, Hazard and Pedro looked a class above their mediocre opposition but things took a complete turnaround in the second half.
After a dominant first-half display, Chelsea seemed to lose control over the proceedings in the second half. In fact, the goal that they conceded in the first half was entirely down to some poor marking from a set-piece situation.
It was humiliating to witness the level of ease with which Tomas Soucek headed the ball in from the corner, as Emerson made himself look like he was marking some invisible figure at the post.
Petr Sevcik’s brace in a space of 3 minutes early in the second half ignited Slavia’s hopes of staging a remarkable comeback away from home. Both the goals came from shots outside the box, as the Chelsea defence didn’t put any sort of pressure on the ball and were too lazy to close down the spaces.
Kovacic turned his back to the ball and Kepa got too easily done at his near post for the first one, while the second one was an absolutely stunning strike which gave the goalkeeper no chance, though the defence was at fault for allowing too much room.
Well, it wasn’t the strongest defensive performance from Chelsea and it might be a worrying sign for Sarri heading into the final few weeks of the season.
However, the manager has every reason to be pleased with the performances of Olivier Giroud and Pedro up front on a night where Eden Hazard was pretty average. Slavia kept Hazard at bay with some crunching challenges and the Belgian didn’t really have a massive impact on the game.
It was a perfect start to the night for Chelsea, with Pedro, Azpilicueta and Giroud showcasing some brilliant one-touch football in a slick move from the right that was finished off in style by the Spaniard.
Giroud claimed the assist for Pedro’s opener, though it was the Spaniard’s subtle movement off the ball that paved the way for a move that was typical of Sarri Ball.
Giroud showed some tremendous hold-up play for the second one, setting Hazard free on the right, who crossed it in for Pedro to finish but the Spaniard hit the post from point-blank range. It went down as an own goal but both Pedro and Giroud were heavily involved in the move.
The Spaniard bagged the assist for the third goal. Pedro timed his run to perfection, beat the offside trap to latch on to a brilliant through ball from N’Golo Kante and showed some good decision-making to set up Giroud for a simple tap-in.
The fourth goal was also a result of some wonderful build-up play down the left which all began with Giroud’s smart hold-up play. Emerson whipped in a perfect ball from the left, and though Giroud scuffed his finish, Pedro showed good reactions to turn the ball in at the far post.
Pedro bagged two goals and an assist while Giroud hit double figures in the Europa League on Thursday night, capping off a wonderful performance with a goal and an assist.
Undoubtedly, Chelsea looked like a lot more complete side in the attacking third with Giroud’s physical presence up front, though they played the second half at a rather testimonial pace. In other words, Giroud did everything that Gonzalo Higuain has failed to do since his arrival in January.
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Giroud registered 3 shots, 5 aerial duels and 1 key pass on the night while Pedro had a pass success rate of 77.8, including 3 shots, 1 key pass and 2 successful long balls. Chelsea are set to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals of the Europa League and Sarri should continue to rely on the in-form duo to fire the Blues into the finals.
