Analysing the first and second halves of Chelsea win over Shrewsbury

Didier Drogba celebrates scoring the opening goal with team mates during the Capital One Cup Fourth Round match between Shrewsbury Town and Chelsea.

A late own goal sent Chelsea through to the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup, but the Premier League leaders were put to the test by League Two side Shrewsbury.

With the captain’s armband tightly around his arm, Didier Drogba scored the opener just after the interval.

Shrewsbury levelled the scoring with 13 minutes left to play, but their hopes of taking the game to extra time were short-lived as an own goal sent Chelsea through to the quarter-final of the competition.

First half

Nathan Ake, John Mikel Obi, Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma, Mohamed Salah and Petr Cech all got rare starts in the cup match.

A mixture of fringe players, youngsters and regular starters struggled to put their mark on the match in the opening half.

In fact, Shrewsbury had the best opportunity when they forced Cech to make a great save from a set piece.

Chelsea’s attacks were normally finished off with poor shots from distance, failing to test Jayson Leutwiler in the Shrewsbury goal.

Salah was perhaps the keenest player going forward, though his aim was a bit off.

Second half

A much-improved Chelsea side took the game to Shrewsbury in the opening minutes of the second half.

A brilliant attack saw Salah find Drogba with a delightful one-touch pass, and the striker was as cool as you like to put the Blues in front with a half-volley from 15 yards.

Shrewsbury wanted a high pace on the game and created a few half-chances throughout the second half, but it wasn’t until Andrew Mangan came on that their efforts were rewarded.

13 minutes before the end Shrewsbury got a corner and the ball came off Mikel and ended up in Mangan’s feet inside the six-yard box. The striker made no mistakes and equalised just 90 seconds after entering the pitch.

Chelsea responded immediately and replaced Mikel and Salah with Nemanja Matic and Willian.

The Brazilian had an instant impact with an in-swinging cross from the left. Shrewsbury defender Jermaine Grandison was under pressure from Drogba and was forced to put the ball into his own net to give Chelsea the winning goal.

Jose Mourinho said after the match, ”Yes, I was worried when they equalised but we go through and Didier played a massive part in that. Now we’re in the final eight of the competition, with the draw coming up later on Wednesday night."

Published with permission from Chelsea Talk.