Peter Crouch has suggested that Chelsea were fortunate on Wednesday to draw 3-3 away to Zenit St Petersburg.
Chelsea’s result in midweek means they slip to second in their Champions League group and finish as runners-up. Subsequently, there is a one in four chance they are pitted against much-feared side Bayern Munich in the last-16 draw.
The Blues were involved in a thrilling contest on their trip to Russia where the momentum swung constantly.
First of all, Timo Werner’s opener was cancelled out by Zenit goals from Claudinho and Sardar Azmoun in the first half to give the hosts a 2-1 advantage going into half time. Afterwards, Romelu Lukaku and Werner both scored in the second period to put Thomas Tuchel’s men 3-2 ahead. Unfortunately, Zenit’s Magomed Ozdoyev equalised in stoppage time.
Pundit Crouch wasn’t too impressed with this evening’s overall performance from Premier League side Chelsea. Two-goal attacker Werner and Blues goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga were mentioned in a positive light, though.
“I thought they (Chelsea) were far too open. I thought they got away with it really. I thought Werner got them out of jail,” Crouch told BT Sport 3 (7:40pm, 8 December).
“I think Zenit got what they deserved. They carved open quite a lot of chances. Kepa kept Chelsea in it at times.”
Chelsea hit mini blip
Of course, Chelsea’s results were going to take a dip at some stage in time.
Tuchel’s side were once again unrecognisable in defence from the usual high standards they set, albeit it was a team fielded against Zenit with eight changes to the starting XI. Incidentally, some Chelsea fans loved the performance from the bench of their player Hakim Ziyech tonight.
The London giants now have just one victory from their last four games across all competitions, which was a match they limped over the line in against Watford.
Thankfully, Chelsea had already done the hard work in the Champions League to ensure of their spot in the knockout rounds. It might mean they meet one of Europe’s elite clubs earlier in the competition than they would’ve like, though.
Tuchel will be praying that he gets his senior figures in midfield back quickly because their absence has been really noticeable.
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