Swansea stalled Chelsea’s 100% start to the Premier League season as the two sides played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium. Chelsea opened the scoring via. Diego Costa following some misjudgement between Federico Fernandez and keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
Swansea – who put in a much better showing after the break – turned the game on its head to go in front thanks to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty and Leroy Fer’s capitalization on a Gary Cahill error. Costa brought his side back level in the 81st minute with a bicycle kick after Branislav Ivanovic’s shot was blocked. Both teams went for the win in the dying stages, but had to settle for a point apiece in the end.
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We assess the talking points from an eye-catching encounter at Wales:-
#1 One-way traffic in the first half
Antonio Conte’s side absolutely bossed the first half. They looked dangerous from the flanks, as Willian and Hazard both made a number of dangerous runs into the Swansea box. Both the home side’s wingbacks Kyle Naughton and Neil Taylor – who was substituted after 40 minutes – were stretched and didn’t appear to be comfortable tracking down Chelsea’s wide men.
Francesco Guidolin’s side hardly saw the ball and as a result, found themselves bereft of goal-scoring opportunities. It also didn’t help their cause that N’Golo Kante was having a field day at the Liberty Stadium. Newly signed striker Fernando Llorente was isolated and barely had a sight on goal. Swansea were lucky to get into the break with just a single goal’s deficit.
#2 Diego Costa, the pantomime villain
When Diego Costa is on the field, one cannot keep him out of the spotlight for long. He may be highly effective on the ball, but it is his antics off it which garner the attention of everyone associated with the game. Football first, he opened the scoring with a sweet side-footed strike following a moment of indecision in the Swans defence.
He then equalised after his team went 2-1 down with a bicycle kick which the referee could well have chalked off for a high boot. However, his theatrical reactions to getting fouled – which led to all three Swansea bookings – and meaningless confrontations with opposition players despite already being on a yellow card himself is a serious issue which Antonio Conte and his staff will have to address in the weeks to come.
#3 Two crazy second-half minutes turn the game around
For 55 minutes, Swansea looked nowhere close to troubling Thibaut Courtois. That would soon change, however, as Mo Barrow – who replaced Neil Taylor in the first half – injected some much-needed pace into Swansea’s attack and located Gylfi Sigurdsson in space, with only Courtois to beat.
The Chelsea keeper rushed out and tangled the Icelandic midfielder resulting in a penalty and a yellow card (as protection had arrived by the time the offence was committed). Sigurdsson confidently put the spot-kick away to level matters for Swansea out of nothing in particular.
Two minutes later, Gary Cahill was caught in possession by Leroy Fer, who made no mistake in beating Courtois from a one-on-one situation. The tables had turned and those two goals set the tone for a breathless finish.
#4 Should Fer’s goal have stood?
Swansea were rewarded for keeping Chelsea at bay by scoring two quickfire goals, but the build-up to the second will definitely be a major talking point in the aftermath of the game. While Cahill was definitely at fault for keeping the ball in his possession for too long, questions will be asked of how legitimate Leroy Fer’s challenge to dispossess the English defender was.
Replays from certain angles showed that the Dutchman clipped Cahill en route to pickpocketing him off the ball, meaning that referee Andre Marriner should have awarded a foul on the away side’s favour. It was a 50-50 call in real-time and the referee, along with his assistants cannot be blamed for letting play continue.
#5 Barrow’s entry into the game sparked some adventure into Swansea
Swansea played second-fiddle to Chelsea for most of the first half. They were unable to string a set of passes together and their wingbacks were made to toil hard. Francesco Guidolin needed to do something to give Swansea a chance of getting a foothold on the game and promptly hauled left wingback Neil Taylor off for the pacey forward Modou Barrow after 40 minutes.
The switch in formation from a three-man defence to a standard 4-2-3-1 with Barrow out wide and Stephen Kingsley shifted to left back seemed to work for the Swans. It was Barrow’s pace which was important in the build up to Swansea’s equaliser.
He also threatened to break free late in the second half, only to be cynically brought down by Eden Hazard, who took a booking for the team. Guidolin may have the displeasure of Taylor to handle, but it was his tactical change which helped Swansea avoid defeat and he can take a huge amount of credit for his team’s vastly improved second half display.
