After the firecracker start to the first half, we were expecting a barrage out of the gates of the second. But the boys took the game to them instead.
46th minute, Kent breaks down the right and runs to the flag. There are plenty of white shirts in the middle...
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He finds Towell, who volleys...
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Straight into Cech. Save. Hazard collects and danger dissipates.
52 mins
Coman collects a ball in a decent position, but is well covered by the defence.
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His first touch is excellent though, using it to skip past Sweeney and into the box.
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His shot is poor though, weak and straight into fon William's legs.
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54 mins
Ward-Prouse fires in a corner, which Felipe Luis claims on the volley. He bangs it goalward but hits Sweeney. A bit of pinball between Sweeney and Daniels,
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before the Diego Costa claims it and spreads it back wide.
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Ward-Prouse puts it straight back in with another cross, hit on the volley this time by Chalobah.
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He hits fon Williams, and the ball bobbles out with Chalobah right there... but Barbosa makes a goal line clearance. Awesome.
Coman is starting to get annoyed. He has long range shots on 61 and 63 mins, the first straight at fon Williams and the second miles off target. He hits another on 65, but this one has no sting at all, goes straight to fon Williams who collects easily. Da Silva takes a similar shot on 77 mins, but is blocked. Hazard has a pop from the corner of the box on 78 mins, low and to the near post, and fon Williams saves. From the clearance, we have a nice passage of play culminating in Kent playing a through ball towards Stockton at the edge of the box
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Stockton has a good look, and has a crack with loads of room.
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Cech gets low but dives too far to his left. He saves with his feet - so close!
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91st minute
Hazard taking a free kick within shooting distance
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He takes the shot, a fierce curling that is low and to the keepers left. fon Williams gets down fantastically and parries it away
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Nkoulou is the first to react, and has an open goal at his mercy from a very tight angle... Tranmere hearts in mouths at this stage!
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The angle was too tight in the end, and he hits the cross bar.
That's the last dangerous chance, and it ends 0:0! A good result for us, although I dont see much room for improvement on that effort. Tranmere brilliant in defense, and created a few chances but generally Chelsea were in control.
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Billing is PotM, with Sweeney and fon Williams also fantastic for the Rovers.
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Chelsea dominated attacking stats, but possession is pretty even. On the player stats, Sweeney made 3 key tackles and won 3 key aerial challenges, fantastic effort by him. Daniels won 4 key headers too. Chelsea peppered us with crosses even though we were pretty dominant in the air.
Last stat - check out this average position for Hazard. He ran equally down both sides but stayed out of the congested middle. Raumdeuter? Tough to predict from this where he would be in any play.
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