LIVE BLOG FULL-TIME: Chelsea see out the three added-on minutes and win, 1-0! 91min: Zappacosta gives away a needless free kick level with the penalty spot after hanging on to the ball for too long. Morata clears. 90min: Barkley’s shot is blocked out for another corner. 86min: Hazard finds Morata, but his tight angle cross/shot rolls across the face of goal without finding a touch. 83min: Arrizabalaga with a huge save on substitute Kovacs to preserve the clean sheet. Moses completes the clearance. Kepa really showing his worth. Class goalkeeper. pic.twitter.com/RGBflF66XB — ᴱᴰᴱᴺ (@FutbolEden) October 4, 2018 76min: Emerson is fouled down on the byline by Fiola. Hazard takes what amounts to a close corner, finds Barkley’s head, but his effort glances off the crossbar. So close! 74min: Moses for Willian is Chelsea’s third change. 72min: Hazard bamboozles the right side of the defense and finds Barkley, but he stumbles just as he’s about to shoot. 70min: GOAL! Fabregas chips the ball in for Willian, who’s back-header finds Morata making a good run. His first-time finish is ... IN THE NET!! NO WAY! 1-0, CHELSEA! Alvaro Morata get’s his second goal of the season, after a brilliant ball from Fabregas. pic.twitter.com/heUJe32Gt8 — • (@Chelsea_Related) October 4, 2018 68min: Chelsea’s 15th corner just as useless as the previous 14. 66min: Barkley’s third touch is a shot on target, but Tujvel gets behind it, bounces it down, and collects safely. 65min: Barkley on for Loftus-Cheek. Meanwhile, Morata earns himself a yellow for dissent after his latest losing run-in with Juhasz. 63min: Vidi counter leads to a Vidi corner, which is cleared. 62min: RLC takes a sight at goal from 20 yards out, but his Sturridge-esque effort misses the top corner. 60min: Hazard bounds through the center and lays on a tremendous pass for RLC, but he slows down for a step and Stopira clears. At the other end, Nikolov beats Fabregas to find a shooting opportunity, but it’s well over. 58min: Free kick to Chelsea right on the corner of the penalty area after Hadzic handles RLC’s attempt at a rainbow flick over him. Hazard the taker this time, just missing the top of Cahill’s head. 56min: Milanov gets a yellow for pulling back Willian to stop a counter. 55min: Fabregas tries to find Morata in the box with an angled cross, but Juhasz defends well and Tujvel collects. 54min: Sarri isn’t messing about and Hazard enters the fray, replacing the rather quiet Pedro. 51min: RLC wins a free kick out wide right, level with the top of the penalty area. Willian swings it in and it just misses Morata’s forehead. Another corner follows, and then another clearance. 49min: Chelsea win another corner, the 10th of the match. It’s cleared for the 11th, which is then cleared for the 12th. Willian takes it and the goalkeeper claws it off the head of Morata and to safety. 46min: Vidi start the second on the front foot as Nikolov finds Nego wide open at the far post. Arrizabalaga makes the save. HALF-TIME: Chelsea by far the better of the two sides but some incredibly poor finishing is once again letting the team down, Morata chief among the offenders. Vidi showed towards the end of the half that they’re not without danger as Chelsea nearly gifted a goal to them on two occasions. 45min: No added time as the referee blows for half time. 0-0. 44min: Huszti gets a yellow for taking down Kovacic 25 yards from goal and in decent shooting position. No Alonso on the pitch to take it, instead it’s Willian on the “wrong” side. He tries to curl it around the outside of the wall, but it deflects wide for a corner. 43min: Vidi come forward again and Nego leaves Emerson in a heap before tamely shooting straight at Arrizabalaga from close range. 41min: A last-ditch tackle from Cahill prevents Nikolov from shooting on Vidi’s next counter, and replays show that Cahill didn’t get any of the ball. Lucky. 40min: Christensen and Kepa nearly conspire to gift a goal to the visitors on a hopeful long clearance forward, but Nego’s poked effort goes wide of the far post. 39min: All the passing eventually ends with RLC bowling through three players and into the six-yard box where he’s literally tackled to the ground by Vinicius. The referee is unmoved and awards a corner instead, which is easily caught by Tujvel. 38min: Willian and Kovacic win another corner after some neat interplay. Willian’s inswinger is cleared once again, but Chelsea maintain possession down the left flank. 35min: Chelsea get two tries from corners in quick succession but nothing doing. Zappacosta eventually blasts well high and not at all handsome. 34min: Vidi counter is defended well enough but Kepa collects a boot to the face for his troubles. He seems okay to carry on. RLC then pops up at the other end, beating a couple before that man Juhasz is once again there to clear for a corner. 33min: Zappacosta’s next cross is deflected but it goes right to Kovacic, who can’t quite react in time to get his effort on target. 32min: Zappacosta swings in a better cross than his usual standard today, but Juhasz is once again there to clear ahead of Morata. Willian’s corner is cleared without much fuss. 26min: Vinicius goes through the back of RLC and a free kick is awarded about 30-35 yards out. Willian chips in and Morata manages to get a foot to it acrobatically, but the effort of course goes wide. 25min: Juhasz clears Zappacosta’s latest cross and Willian’s follow-up corner is way too long. Pedro then tries to do it alone again, but is once again crowded out at the top of the area. 23min: Willian zings a ball at Kovacic, who manages to make the most of the situation and holds possession. Pedro then finds himself with space to shoot from 20 yards, but it’s straight into the hands of Tujvel. 22min: Zappacosta feels aggrieved as he clears for a throw, but Chelsea win it back quickly and start the passing cycle once again. Pedro eventually turns upfield and beats three, but is then crowded out just as he enters the area. 19min: Emerson runs onto an inviting rebound, and unleashes a piledriver that flies wide harmlessly. 16min: Morata with a great chance, played in by Pedro. Just another missed sitter for Alvaro then... 14min: Kovacic finds himself in a bit of space at the top of the box. He takes the shot, but it spins wide. Meanwhile, Loftus-Cheek is ordered off the pitch to get a new shirt, which was ripped by Vidi’s Nego, who try to pull him back. Nego gets the game’s first yellow and eventually a new shirt for RLC is found as well. 12min: A Fabregas long ball is only half-cleared and Pedro collects. He finds Willian, who turns Juhasz inside out, but the shot is deflected wide and the corner is wasted. 10min: Willian loses the ball to Fiola but RLC wins it back and finds Emerson. Emerson slaloms through about four players and is in on goal, but his shot flies over the crossbar. What a run from the left back! 8min: Chelsea launch a counter from the next corner with Pedro bringing the ball through center and finding Willian. He takes on his man and shapes to shoot with his left but it’s a poor effort and it goes harmlessly wide. 7min: Zappacosta’s cross is cleared and Vidi launch a counter, but Chelsea have numbers back. Vidi win a corner, which Emerson heads over his own crossbar after Juhasz wins the initial header vs. Christensen. 5min: Chelsea not quite flowing just yet as Kovacic’s chipped pass goes awry. 2min: Morata rides a challenge and finds Zappacosta, but his cross is poor and it’s cleared. Kovacic then commits a foul in midfield, but Vidi give the ball away. KICK-OFF: A “healthy” crowd settles in as Chelsea get us underway with the new traditional long ball down the left, which is headed out for a throw. It’s the first ever Europa League group stage match at Stamford Bridge, and it’s the first time since 1954 that Chelsea will be taking on a Hungarian team at home — and the first time ever in any sort of competitive setting. Making history! That said, the match itself is expected to be an easy, one-sided affair, with Vidi, the lowest ranked team of the group. They lost to BATE at home on matchday 1, 2-0. Rotation should be the order of the day. Here we go. Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3): Arrizabalaga | Emerson, Christensen, Cahill (c), Zappacosta | Kovacic, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek | Willian, Morata, Pedro Substitutes from: Caballero, Alonso, Ampadu, Kante, Barkley, Hazard, Moses Eight changes from Sarri, with Kepa, Kova, and Willian keeping their places from the weekend. Pedro returns from injury as does RLC. Ampadu finds the bench, but there is no Hudson-Odoi or a recognized striker on the bench. MOL Vidi FC starting lineup (4-3-3): Tujvel | Stopira, Vinicius, Juhasz (c), Fiola | Nikolov, Hadzic, Nego | Milanov, M.Scepovic, Huszti Substitutes from: Kovacsik, Kovacs, Berecz, Hodzic, Patkai, Tamas, Hangya Date / Time: Thursday, October 4th, 2018, 20:00 BST; 3pm EDT; 12:30am IST (next day) Venue: Stamford Bridge, London SW6 Referee: Miroslav Zelinka On TV: BT Sport 2 (UK); none (USA); SONY TEN 2 HD (India); elsewhere Streaming online: BT Sport Live (UK); B/R Live (USA); SONY LIV (India) Be excellent to each other.<doc-sep>An utterly dominant Chelsea huffed and puffed and took a lot bad shots and even worse corners, but eventually found the breakthrough and collected another win in the Europa League group stages. It never should’ve been this hard or this close, but a lot of Chelsea’s usual issues were on vivid display, especially the poor finishing and, to a lesser extent, vulnerability on the counter (towards the end of either half). But, a win’s a win and three points is all that matters in the end. KTBFFH. Eight changes for Chelsea, with Arrizabalaga, Kovacic, and Willian keeping their starting spots from the weekend’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool. Hazard thrown on early, for Pedro, just 10 minutes into the second half. Barkley-for-Loftus-Cheek and Moses-for-Willian completed the changes before the final 15 minutes. Morata’s goal his second of the season. Next up: Southampton away on Sunday in the Premier League, then an international break. KTBFFH PLAYER RATINGS (click here if the form below is broken):<doc-sep>
Chelsea midfielder Willian has been criticised by supporters across social media in the wake of his disappointing display in the Europa League. The Brazilian midfielder was largely anonymous in the Group L clash at Stamford Bridge, which finished 1-0 to the Blues thanks to a 70th-minute strike from Alvaro Morata. Maurizio Sarri’s men maintained their unbeaten start to the 2018-19 campaign as a result, but they were not at their best after the Italian made eight changes to his starting line-up from the domestic clash against Liverpool last Sunday. SEE ALSO: Video: Alvaro Morata finally scores for Chelsea and his celebration is interesting Video: Olivier Giroud’s priceless reaction to Alvaro Morata missing a sitter for Chelsea Video: Alvaro Morata dubbed ‘allergic to goals’ as Chelsea striker misses another sitter Scores of fans took to Twitter to lament his decision to leave Callum Hudson-Odoi out of the matchday squad, while Willian started on the left-hand side of the attack and failed to affect the game in any meaningful way. The Blues will now turn their attention back to the Premier League, ahead of a trip to Southampton on Sunday which is a crucial game for the team as they chase down Manchester City and Liverpool. However, they will have to produce a much-improved performance against the Saints in order to banish the memory of a torrid night in Europe, where they were ultimately fortunate to escape with all three points. Willian did his hopes of retaining a place in the starting XI no good at all with his poor performance and Chelsea fans seem to have had enough of the 30-year-old midfielder. Check out some of the harsh tweets below, with one fan stating the Brazil international is the ‘cancer’ of Sarri’s squad. Yikes. willian is a cancer in this squad — ?? (@Zauvaughn) October 4, 2018 I don’t think I’ve ever hated a player more than Willian. — Harvey Specter ? (@DZKurtisss) October 4, 2018 I’m glad Pedro is back and looking sharp . Tired watching the Willian nonesense. — Ali?? (@TheBeardedRauI) October 4, 2018 We rejected £60m for Willian. — #CarefreeDailyFC. ? (@EmenaIo) October 4, 2018 That was a terrible performance. Willian was bad tonight. Zappacosta was worse. Much worse. Barkley looked bright when he came on as did Moses. Once again we find ourselves with underperforming strikers. #CHEVID — James Rees (@JamesJohnRees) October 4, 2018 If Chelsea continue to be stale, please watch Willian’s body language. Please. Even if you’re a big Willian fan. Multiple times in the 1st half he just walked around semi disinterested. — Alex Goldberg (@AlexGoldberg_) October 4, 2018