I wrote before last night’s game that the reintroduction of Pedro would be key to Chelsea turning this spell of form around. The Spaniard was on the bench against Crystal Palace at the weekend, seemingly to keep him fresh for this game, but it didn’t turn out to be so.
Instead, Antonio Conte opted to move David Luiz into midfield and revert to a 352. This left only one spot further forward behind Alvaro Morata, which was occupied by Eden Hazard.
While Chelsea managed to bag two goals in the first half, in reality they had no control of the game, and were eventually made to pay as Roma fought their way into a 3-2 lead.
The introduction of Pedro in the 56th minute had the exact effect I had hoped. His energy and pressing stopped Roma being able to play the ball around so easily, and while on the pitch he made 5 key passes according to Whoscored. One of these was the little cross to Hazard that ended up being the assist for the equaliser.
Expect to see the Spaniard from the start against Watford this weekend.
