PAOK 0-1 Chelsea - 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis
Chelsea flagged off their adventure in the Europa League this season with a comfortable win over PAOK FC at the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki on Thursday. Maurizio Sarri's men dominated the game since the get-go and the score-line probably does not give a fair reflection of how the game panned out over the course of the 90 minutes as Chelsea were hardly made to sweat.
The Blues an early lead when Willian, who was given the captain's armband on the night, dispatched a driving finish that kept low and just about crept underneath Alexandros Paschalakis on it's way into the back of the net. The passage of play was quite simply magnificent from the visitors as Jorginho guided a one-touch pass into the path of Ross Barkley, who took a stride forward to stretch the PAOK back line before laying it off to Willian who rounded it off with his finish.
Chelsea continued to enjoy the lion's share of possession after the hosts offered them too much time and space on the ball to dominate the proceedings and take the sting out of the game.
Razvan Lucescu's Greek champions enjoyed a decent spell of possession in the final quarter of the game but it was probably a little too late as Chelsea held on for a crucial victory away from home to boost their credentials as favourites to progress from Group L. On that note, let's take a closer look at the major talking points from the Europa League clash at Thessaloniki.
#1 Early goal helps Chelsea dictate terms with comfort
It didn't take too long for Chelsea to get the upper-hand on the game as the intent was there to see for everyone from kick-off at the Toumba Stadium. Maurizio Sarri's men were constantly looking to push forward from the beginning and the fact that they started very strong brightened up their prospects early on.
Chelsea took a lead in the seventh minute through Willian in a move that quite comprehensively underlined their style of play under the new manager this year. The Blues were direct in their approach, and quickly shifted gears to almost make it look like they were dealing with a bunch of dummies in pre-match training in Thessaloniki, during the build-up to the opening goal.
Antonio Rudiger bypassed the midfield with a forward pass that Alvaro Morata played back for Jorginho, who effortlessly passed it on to Ross Barkley's stride as the Englishman took a neat touch before storming forward and finding Willian with plenty of time and space to pick out the perfect finish.
Chelsea were up and running inside the first few minutes and it helped them massively in terms of dictating the terms on the night, but at the end of proceedings, they will be disappointed with their output inside the final third during the entirety of the game.