Chelsea 2 Everton 0: Kai Havertz has arrived at Stamford Bridge
The German international was the focal point of everything Chelsea did good tonight
It was the Kai Havertz show for Chelsea tonight, and I cannot tell you how long I have been waiting to say that!
We didn’t just see glimpses of it tonight, we saw a complete performance from a player who we were all climbing walls to shout from the rooftops in joy when we signed him this summer.
Havertz has arrived at Stamford Bridge, and all that was missing was a goal for him.
But it wasn’t for a lack of trying, and he fully deserved to score. He won the penalty for Chelsea’s second with a superb run in behind, and he also had a goal chalked off as an Everton own-goal, then he was wrongly adjudged to of handled the ball when he scored early in the second half. Harsh.
But Havertz was the focal point of everything Chelsea did good tonight, and playing in the false 9 literally unlocked all of his best attributes in one.
Everton were very compact and they overloaded the narrow midfield positions, this stopped Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic from really being able to control the game as they usually do, and Chelsea needed something else.
That something different was Kai Havertz, getting into the pockets dropping deep and being an option for Andreas Christensen to pass to, and this worked in our favour as he then found himself in good and dangerous positions high up the pitch.
But he wasn’t just doing that, he was making the perfect mix of runs, whether it was dropping in, or going in behind, he was an absolute nuisance for Everton and they had no answers.
He is such an intelligent player off the ball and so clever on it as well, the way he holds his body to protect the ball and just glides along with it at his feet is something to behold.
We aren’t getting carried away of course, it is just one game. But his body language, his confidence; it really did have a feel of someone who was announcing himself tonight. He looked a different beast.
Impressive performance, other players need to be more alive to the runs he makes. Think he could still improve his strength on the ball, as Timo said, defenders in PL are big & strong! Hope he stays fit. He’ll provide something different for Athletico to think about!