Marcos Alonso’s late winner may have given Chelsea the advantage heading into the second-leg against Slavia Prague, but we mustn’t take anything for granted.
Slavia provided a sterner test than we had imagined. Perhaps that’s merely due to our naivety, with these away days in the furthest corners of Europe often proving to be troublesome.
You could forgive us for thinking that the star-studded Chelsea lineup which was fielded would’ve made light work of the Czech side, however. They really did struggle more than they should’ve.
That could be down to our own sluggishness, Slavia’s steel, or a mixture of the two, but whatever the contributing factors to our problems, we have to be prepared for them in the second-leg.
VIDEO: Eden Hazard makes most of his cameo with clever nutmeg
VIDEO: Marcos Alonso finally gives Chelsea the lead against Slavia
READ MORE: Every Chelsea player rated with a Tweet after Slavia win
The xG map from last night’s game serves as evidence of that. This gives us an even clearer indication that it really could’ve gone either way on the night.
Don’t be surprised if Sarri makes fewer changes to his side for the return fixture. We need to kill Slavia off early on, else they’ll grow in confidence and an upset could be on the cards.
