The “little horse” had a sad today
One can see why Julian Draxler excites Arsene Wenger so. On this day, he was better than Eden Hazard maneuvering tight spaces, Cesc Fabregas in slick passing, and Diego Costa threatening goals. On the other hand, this must be the new Chelsea, adventurous in attack but then leaving themselves vulnerable to the counter which is how Klaas Jan Huntelaar combined with Draxler to sweep in the equalizer. You could see Jose Mourinho growing visibly agitated on the sidelines as Fabregas and then Didier Drogba fail to add to Chelsea’s opener as shutting down the shop became difficult. He threw in the heavy artillery towards the end bringing in Costa and Loic Remy but Schalke held firm in the face of the intensifying attack.
Cesc Fabregas opened his Chelsea account in somewhat controversial circumstances as Croatian referee Ivan Bebek completely ignored his crunching foul on Max Meyer allowing the play to go on. Hazard picking up the ball drove into the box opening up space for Fabregas cutting in from the left to thump a rising shot over Ralf Fahrmann into the far post. The Spaniard had another golden opportunity but skied the ball over the crossbar. Drogba also had a couple of chances to put the game beyond Schalke’s reach but his header from Willian’s cross was straight to Fahrmann and in the second half his angled shot missed the far post by inches. Hazard was the standout Chelsea man but for all his slippery finesse at the edge of the box, his finishes were about as accurate as a matchlock. Schalke meanwhile crept back into the game and looked very business like without being overly threatening till the Huntelaar strike.
These were definitely dropped points to a Schalke side whittled down with injuries and illness. The Bundesliga fans however always provide the XII th man with their passion outstripping their Premier League counterparts. The 3000 visiting fans, in the minority by a few tens of thousands, drowned out Stamford Bridge with their lusty cheerleading. They very much liked what they saw.
The highlights: