Our forensic look at the statistics from Saturday’s thrilling draw with West Brom highlight how the match was a real ‘game of two halves’ and show just how big an impact our half-time substitutes had on the fixture…
Hudson-Odoi's starring role
He may not have started this game, but Callum Hudson-Odoi certainly had a big impact at The Hawthorns.
The winger entered the fray as a half-time substitute along with Cesar Azpilicueta and helped the Blues turn around a 3-0 half-time deficit, to ensure we left the Midlands with a share of the spoils.
As our stats show below, Callum was a real thorn in the Baggies defence with his direct running at goal and willingness to send over a cross. The England international scored with his only shot on goal, following good link-up play with Kai Havertz, and provided two key passes for the team.
The 19-year-old winger also had a passing accuracy of 79.4 per cent and registered 49 touches in his 45 minutes of play.
Mount starts the comeback
It was a first half to forget for the Blues, with Callum Robinson’s brace and a further strike from Kyle Bartley seeing us 3-0 down at the break. However, we came out for the second half with Frank Lampard’s words of encouragement still ringing in the ears of the players, with a much more polished display on show after the break.
It was vitally important we pulled a goal back early into the second half, otherwise we risked the game getting away from us and time not being on our side, but thankfully we did just that, thanks to Mason Mount’s stunning strike just 10 minutes after the restart.
It capped off a fine performance from the England international, who registered four key passes, three shots on target and recorded a passing accuracy of 90.7 per cent against the Baggies.
Havertz finding his feet
Fresh from his hat-trick against Barnsley in midweek, Kai Havertz was again offered the opportunity to play in the No.10 role by Frank Lampard and the German put in another impressive display.
While the first half was tough for those in a Chelsea shirt, Havertz continued to show some nice touches and really came alive in the second half as we constantly attacked the West Brom defence.
He linked up superbly well for Hudson-Odoi’s goal which put us in sight of taking something from the game and, as our touch map above highlights, Kai was happy to help the team in both the offensive and defensive phases.
Havertz had a passing accuracy of 92.7 per cent, laid on two key passes for his team-mates and was on target with both shots at goal he registered.
Azpi’s impact from the bench
Sometimes you just need that extra bit of experience and leadership to help out and that’s exactly what Cesar Azpilicueta gave us when he came on at half-time.
Marcos Alonso was the unlucky Chelsea player to make way for the skipper at the break, with Azpi moving over to left-back with minimal fuss and helping out at both ends of the pitch.
The Spaniard won four of his aerial duels, had 74 touches despite only coming on at half-time and registered a passing accuracy of 85.3 per cent.
He was up and down that left-flank too, with our heat map above highlighting just how much ground Cesar covered for the team.