Former Chelsea midfielder Gary Chivers feels that the Blues are still vulnerable from set-pieces despite their progress under Maurizio Sarri this season.
“[Brighton had a go in] the second half and in the last couple of minutes they had a couple of free kicks wide. I’m not too sure about Chelsea defending free kicks,” Chivers worried. “I don’t know what the ratio is for letting in goals, but they had a couple of chances.”
Chelsea moved on from a defensive, solid style of play to a more attacking and dynamic style of play this season under Sarri. The Blues maintain a compact shape, have more possession on the ball and maintain a high defensive line to keep the pressure on the opponents. This has seen Chelsea rewarded with more goals, more license to forward players and a better and more entertaining style of play.
However, what this has also done is that it has left the Blues vulnerable to counter-attacks and to some extent set-pieces. The reason for that is that Chelsea are no longer a physical team with big players. The Blues have more technical, slick players of smaller stature who might fail to keep the opposition in check in their own box during set pieces.
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