“I DREAMED OF THIS IN MY PARENTS’ GARDEN”
Chelsea is really bad. On Saturday, at his native Stamford Bridge, he gave three points to bottom-ranked Southampton, for whom this victory was the second in 12 (!) Rounds. The only goal was scored by midfielder James Ward-Prowse. Naturally, from a penalty kick. It is his 17th set piece in the Premier League and now he is on the verge of equaling the record of notorious free-kick master David Beckham (18).
“It’s an incredible feeling,” Ward-Prowse said. – I scored more beautiful goals, but I was happy to see the ball go into the net. It’s nice to know that you can improve any skill in life if you work hard at it. When I was a child training in my parents’ garden, I dreamed of it.
That fatal free kick for Chelsea was already signaled at the end of the first half by César Azpilicueta’s foul on Stuart Armstrong. Even then, the home fans sensed that something was wrong and fell silent, and the fans of the “saints” on the opposite side of the field froze with anticipation. Ward-Prause did not disappoint and from 25 meters sent the ball into the close corner. It is not the most beautiful goal of him. Still, the ball flew “only” into the bottom corner, and not into the top nine. But no less valuable for that.
SEVEN PENALTY GOALS IN A SEASON AND A HALF
Delighted Ian Wright wrote on social networks: “Elite. We see one of the best in history. He can’t be stopped.”
Ward-Prawse scored four free kicks last season in the Premier League, more than any other Premier League player. And in the current one he has three such accurate shots in 23 games. It’s also worth noting that he’s scored half of all his goals by standards this season, and over two seasons together he leads this indicator by a wide margin.
The only pity is that the “saints” are not worthy of their leader. They got their previous victory in Liverpool over Everton – 2: 1, and both goals were scored by … Ward-Prowse. But if you fail to distinguish yourself, partners are usually content with nothing. However, even in such a deplorable state, their chances of salvation are quite real: Everton and Bournemouth, who are on savior 16-17 places, have only three more points.
As for the Blues, they have extended their winless streak to five games and have only won twice in the last 14 games. Yes, Chelsea have many rookies (there were five starters) and a long list of casualties. Christian Pulisic, Ngolo Kante, Edouard Mendy and Raheem Sterling all missed out on Saturday, while Ben Chilwell started for the first time since October. But at the same time, Graham Potter’s experiments do not affect the team in the best way.
Thus, Mason Mount, who seemed to be playing on the left, was in the center of attack most of the time, and center forward Datro Fofan was regularly brought to the left in the first half, where he often received the ball, but it was too far from the goal. Mount, for his part, disappeared around the defenders and touched the ball only 23 times in an hour of play.
Add to this the low efficiency of Joao Félix and the lack of activity in moving the ball up the middle through the Enzo Fernández-Mateo Kovacic link, and here you have a loss from a team that had just lost their second manager of the season. – Ralph Hasenhüttl’s successor Nathan Jones was sacked earlier in the week, so at Stamford Bridge the Saints were led by Ruben Selles, who has only one game as head coach (in November, on substitute status , helped defeat Sheffield Wednesday in the Cup).
And Selles is notable for the fact that in 2010 he was an assistant to Alexander Pobegalov and Igor Ledyakhov at the Yaroslavl Shinnik. And now Chelsea are winning at their Coliseum.
