Mauricio Pochettino has been leaning on the data, using it as proof that his side’s performances have been better than their results suggest, but even he knows that it is easier to make the numbers look good when Chelsea accompany the promise between the boxes with substance at both ends of the pitch.
This was an improvement from Chelsea, who moved into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after a clinical finish from Nicolas Jackson. They stayed firm after initially being outplayed by Brighton and took advantage when Jackson made up for his foolish spate of bookings. So careless-in-front-of-goal Chelsea could celebrate the rarity of getting one over Roberto De Zerbi’s side, who regretted not making more of their early dominance.
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