From the eternal beauty of Amsterdam’s century-old canals to the quaint industrial stronghold of Burnley, Chelsea will have to adapt both their game and their mindset if they are to continue their sensational recent winning run, capped off on Wednesday by the swinging left boot of Michy Batshuayi.
A hammer blow of epic proportions, Batshuayi’s strike sparked emptiness and ecstasy, it was the essence of football distilled into one fleeting moment. The goal, the result, the emotion however seminal in the present will be quickly forgotten if Chelsea expects to rock up at Turf Moor, and dominate without the application they have shown themselves capable of in the past couple of months.
Nixonian pessimism in a time of such overwhelming joy may seem like the last thing anyone wants to hear right now, but as has been the rhetoric I have spouted so often this season, Chelsea must always be aware of the dangers of complacency. Every player contributed to the defining victory of the Frank Lampard Chelsea era thus far but tiredness, exacerbated by a growing injury list, was notable across the pitch. It is the cruellest of dramatic ironies that Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori were the three main culprits of an increase in first-team minutes this season.
With this in mind, the stars of Amsterdam Christian Pulisic and Batshuayi will be angling for a starting berth on Saturday having impressed from the bench for much of the season.
