Alvaro Morata strike secures victory as Chelsea make hard work of Vidi test

Alvaro Morata ended his drought in front of goal and ensured Chelsea were able to break the resistance of a dogged MOL Vidi side at Stamford Bridge.

The Spaniard finished neatly with 70 minutes on the clock to finally hand Chelsea the lead and it proved to be enough for their second successive Europa League win, despite a late scare.

Maurizio Sarri’s side were heavy favourites going into the game, yet a combination of terrible finishing and splendid defending meant Vidi threatened to spring a surprise for much of the evening.

They had chances too, but Chelsea did enough to win the game, even if it took a lot longer to net the opening goal than anyone of a blue persuasion would have wanted, or expected.

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Maurizio Sarri named a strong side in the opening game away at PAOK Salonika, but he made eight changes to the side for the Blues’ first home clash. Kepa, Mateo Kovacic and Willian were the only players to retain their spots.

Despite a confident Chelsea start, Vidi had the first effort of note as Roland Juhasz’s goalbound heads was blocked by Davide Zappacosta. It was a warning sign for Sarri’s side, but they went on to create plenty of chances of their own.

Willian wasted a chance, scuffing the ball badly wide and Emerson Palmieri went on a fantastic run before blazing over, yet it was the out-of-form Morata who missed the pick of the bunch.

A fantastic move involving Cesg Fabregas and Pedro saw Morata played through on goal, with the perfect opportunity to find the net and boost his incredibly low confidence. The Spaniard dinked the keeper, but could not keep his effort on target and it drifted wide of the post.

Pedro was at the centre of all of Chelsea’s best play as they laid siege to the Hungarian champion’s goal for much of the opening half. Emerson, Pedro and Morata all passing up more opportunities to score, before both sides had big penalty shouts turned down.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was clearly scythed down by Paulo Vinicius, right infront of one of the officials based behind the goal. Somehow, the assistant failed to spot the infringement and the referee waved play on.

Then it was Vidi’s turn to moan – and again the officials got the decision wrong. Boban Nikolov was fouled by Gary Cahill, however the contact was outside the box. The officials again ignored the appeals. Loic Nego then had Vidi’s best chance from opening play, latching onto a long ball and turning in the box, he could only manage a tame effort on goal though.

After getting to half-time without conceding, Vidi nearly shocked Stamford Bridge to take the lead early in the second-half. Nego was the man involved again and his fierce effort had to be palmed away by Kepa.

That was enough for Sarri to look to his bench, eye Eden Hazard and decide it was time to bring on the cavalry. Pedro was surprisingly the man to make way.

Chelsea, however, failed to create the same chances as they managed in the first half. Free-kicks were overhit, corners did not find a blue shirt and Ross Barkley’s long-range effort with his first touch was the closest they came until Morata finally found the breakthrough on 70 minutes.

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A lofted through ball from Fabregas was flicked on by Willian and Morata swept the ball home with a striker’s instinct. The relief on Sarri’s face was obvious, but nothing compared to that on the striker’s, who had netted just once this season and had been booked moments before for dissent as his frustration boiled over.

Morata’s goal could have seen the floodgates open, but aside from a Barkley header that cannoned back off the bar, Chelsea failed to really test Tujvel in the Vidi goal in the final 20 minutes.

And Vidi came mightily close to sending their 1300 travelling fans wild with eight minutes remaining. Substitute Kovacs was fed the ball inside Chelsea’s box, shifted it onto his right foot and drove the ball at goal with the outside of the boot. Unfortunately for him, Kepa was alert and dived full stretch to his right to keep the ball out.

Two 1-0 victories from two Europa League games for Chelsea, who are now in prime position to qualify for the group stages.

Chelsea: Kepa, Zappacosta, Cahill, Christensen, Emerson, Fabregas, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek (Barkley 65), Pedro (Hazard, 55), Willian (Moses 72), Morata

Subs: Caballero, Ampadu, Alonso, Kante