[NoSkillz]

Mon. December 13, 2021

Barclays Premier League
Chelsea (8-1-6, 25 points, 7th) vs. Dover (8-4-3, 28 points, 5th)
Zola Stadium, London, UK

Betting Odds: Chelsea: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Dover: 7-2
Past Meetings: 0W 1D 6L

Chelsea certainly have our number historically but we did finally manage a draw in our last game against them last year. Like us, they just moved onto the knockout stages in the Champions League so they should be just as tired as we are.

They spent BIG in the transfer market, splashing an incredible £71 million in the offseason. Miguel Sousa from Olympique Lyonnais was a £27.5 million purchase and Ignacio Villa from OM was £19.5 million. Sousa has been okay while Villa has only played 2 league games and four overall. They continue to be led up front by the awesome Romelu Lukaku, who has 17 goals in 20 games so far this year…he's their Shanon Andrea! Their second best scorer has four goals and that's DC Shane Duffy. Stop Lukaku and we have a chance!

We have some major injury concerns right now - our two starting central midfielders are hurt today so Mancini and Shaun Spall will both go into the lineup. I've also called up 17 year old Emmerson Harvey from the U18 program and he will be on the bench with a chance to see his first ever senior league game if he's brought on. Jozef Kuciak will start at right fullback for Salim Loucif, who isn't quite ready to return today but will be good to go for next weekend. We'll play the counter attacking system that seemed to work well against fellow large clubs Barcelona and Schalke.

Dover: 4-4-2 Counter
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, J. Kuciak
M - A. Bamba, Mancini, S. Spall, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi
Bench - J. Varga, P. Tjiuoro, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, C. Murray, A. Zubizarreta, G. Gesios

Crap. Chelsea are using the same bloody tight formation that Middlesbrough used against us, with three attacking central midfielders. Lukaku is up front and we'll tackle him hard and show him onto his weaker foot. I go with my assistant again on the team talk ("You can win tonight") and pull aside Bardi, Mancini and Spall for personal chats. With both captain Wayne Rooney and vice-captain Salim Loucif injured, young Renato Gaucho wears the captain's armband for this game.

5' - It's ALL Chelsea so far. Lukaku takes a pass in our penalty area and scores but he's clearly offsides. No goal.

8' - Chelsea have a free kick near the right side of our area and the ball is sent back to the outer edge to Lukaku. He moves to the right and DRILLS a low blast that gets through the traffic and into the far corner of the net. A classy shot and Wilke had NO chance on that one. CHELSEA GOAL 0-1

12' - We have a goal kick and Wilke sends it up field. Chelsea defender Shane Duffy pushes Shanon Andrea to the ground but there's no call. The ball is up for grabs and Zoltan Bardi touches it past Duffy's partner in crime Mamadou Sakho and storms in on goal. With his left foot, he finds the corner of the net and we draw level almost immediately! DOVER GOAL 1-1

16' - Luis Carballo, a skilled left midfielder, gets away from Kuciak and is in on goal but shoots wide of the far corner. Kuciak was way out of position there.

27' - Chelsea continue to dominate highlights but are shooting from distance and generally being wasteful. We get rare possession and send it out to the left to Bamba. He makes a delightful pass up field to Andrea and he latches onto the ball and cuts into the area, blasting a shot that Chelsea keeper Rafael Romo stops but can't control. The rebound pops right out to Zoltan Bardi and he volleys the ball into the net for his second of the game! Two chances, two goals and both are Bardi's!!! DOVER GOAL 2-1

37' - Bardi takes a neat little pass from Andrea and speeds through the defence, only to shoot just wide! Almost his hat trick!

HALFTIME - The stats don't look great but I love the look of the scoreboard right now! Chelsea have dominated possession, holding 62% of it thus far and outshot us 16-8 (4-3 on target). They are shooting from everywhere, with most of them being long and inaccurate. I'm pleased and tell the team as much in the dressing room. No tactical tweaks needed.

52' - Chelsea have a throw in around the halfway line and work up field. Midfielder Andrea Sasso sends a great little through ball to Lukaku, who gets away from Rayane Hamon and quickly one touches the ball past Wilke into the net. Lukaku's second and the game is level once again. CHELSEA GOAL 2-2

Chelsea are in a flat 4-4-2 now.

56' - Zoltan Bardi gets a yellow card.

70' - Shanon Andrea has been pretty quiet so far but he shows his incredible speed and skill when he takes a head ball at midfield and just storms through the defence. He gets a wicked shot from the top of the area and Romo makes a lovely diving save to push it over the net.

74' - We make a double substitution, bringing in Giorgos Gesios for two goal man Zoltan Bardi and Aitor Zubizarreta for the ineffective Gianluca Bolis, who quite frankly has done NOTHING for about 15 games now. The inconsistency is rearing its ugly head again with Bolis...

75' - Right after the change, Lukaku gets another great chance but Wilke is there to make a tough save.

85' - Claudio Contreras has taken a couple knocks this game and is exhausted so I bring in Paulus Tjiuoro.

We'll definitely take a draw away at Chelsea!

Chelsea 2 - 2 Dover
Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.8)
Assists - Ingo Wilke (7.6), Shanon Andrea (6.9)
Man of the Match - Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea ST - 8.8)
Other Dover Notables -
Attendance - 49,400

Chelsea dominated the stats, holding 57% of possession and a 24-11 (6-4 on target) shot edge. Don't care - it's a good result and I tell the team as much after the game.



Champions League - First Knockout Round Draw

-- I guess when you get this far, you can't expect to get a cupcake. We draw Belgian champions Anderlecht and we'll host the first leg on February 16, 2022. As of right now, Anderlecht hasn't lost a single game all year IN ANY COMPETITIONS. Not a single blemish. That said, Belgium's Pro League is quite a step down from the EPL so perhaps we'll have a chance - if we can knock off Barcelona, why be scared of Anderlecht?



Next Up

-- We host relegation candidates Derby County at the newly expanded Crabble Athletic Ground, our first game since increasing capacity to 23,000 seats.