Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Leicester City produced a valuable point away at a top-four rival but it summed up the gamble taken in the January transfer window by the club in their chase for Champions League football.
It was a flawed display at the King Power Stadium with two good set-pieces – and two brilliant headers from Antonio Rudiger – just getting them over the line in a game they needed not to lose.
Frank Lampard made several big changes to his side, most notably dropping the out-of-form record signing Kepa Arrizabalaga for back-up goalkeeper Willy Caballero.
Caballero would make a huge error for the second Leicester goal coming out to stop Ricardo Pereira only to get caught out of position when the Portuguese right-back crossed for Ben Chilwell to make it 2-1.
Although playing through the pain barrier for his manager, Tammy Abraham misfired all game and Rudiger took responsibility to save Chelsea with his incredible 71st-minute header.
Chelsea will, however, be happy to get out of the Midlands with a point as their opponents squandered two massive chances with Jonny Evans and Harvey Barnes missing sitters late on.
Lampard got out of jail with his selections, which might have been more under the microscope after Abraham and Caballero struggled. However, there was also the case that the Blues dominated the first half on a difficult away day.
It was a calculated gamble for the club to not give Lampard a striker in January to boost his chances of finishing in the Champions League places.
The Blues could have spent big on Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani or Napoli’s Dries Mertens and perhaps could have been left stuck with an ageing player on a longer contract.
The lack of signings saw Lampard frustrated as he met the media yesterday ahead of the match. The tension was clear, the pessimism wasn’t hidden and he delivered a message of caution to the club’s fans.
Lampard even went as far as to describe his side as ‘underdogs’ in the race for that extra revenue that elite European competition brings.
However, they have stuck with Abraham, Mount and the rest of the promoted youth players and they might just be good enough to overcome their poor chasing rivals.
Tellingly, Ross Barkley came on for Abraham late on with Willian going up front. Seconds later Michy Batshuayi was pictured on the bench with Olivier Giroud not even travelling for Saturday’s early kick off.
The club’s director Marina Granovskaia will have watched the press conference on Friday and the match today. She has come under criticism from many of the club’s fans who are used to glamorous new signings. They were further annoyed by the loss of two talented youngsters in Tariq Lamptey, who went to Brighton, and Clinton Mola, who headed for Stuttgart.
She ignored Lampard’s calls for a new striker with only the likes of Odion Ighalo – who went to Manchester United – available to them on the market in January. She held her nerve and will keep Chelsea’s money in reserve until the summer.
But the club’s league form is alarmingly poor. They have won only four league games since November 9. It isn’t good enough but all of their rivals, from Leicester down to Arsenal, have dropped points in that time.
Leicester could have been 11 points clear of Chelsea, leaving them to duke it out with Manchester United, Tottenham and Wolves in the battle for the top four. Now, they have done just enough to keep the Foxes worried that they too could miss out.
Lampard is wrong that his side are underdogs but he is right that it will be a battle until the end between flawed teams in transition for the top-four places.
