BATE 0-1 Chelsea: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis, Europa League 2018/19

Chelsea qualify for the knockout stages
Chelsea qualify for the knockout stages

#4 There was no way out for BATE in the end

A man without answers
A man without answers

Yes, BATE Borisov gave Chelsea a real run for their money. Yes, they were defensively organized and well-positioned more often than not. Yes, they had the legs in them for the entirety of the 90 minutes. But in the end, it never looked like they could get their way back into the game.

The Blues constantly pressed them down and forced the longer ball. And with the titanic frames of Christensen, Cahill and Loftus-Cheek in midfield, they won the ball back and set out to attack time and time again.

On the back of a couple of corners and other dead balls, the hosts managed to strike the post again, but apart from that, there was nothing to test Arrizabalaga.

The plan was to defend deep and keep the game alive till the end, but Chelsea stuck to their plans, played to their strengths and didn't allow their opponents to have a sniff of their goal.

For Alyaksey Baha though, the defensive performance and the energy levels portrayed by his players will be a huge positive to take into the final two group fixtures.

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