The atmosphere was really a great one yesterday at Stamford Bridge as the new Chelsea manager Frank Lampard secured his first home win since the beginning of the season. The blues welcome Grimsby to the Bridge in their first game in the Carabao Cup and it was really a bad day for the visitors as they were been thrashed 7-1, the academy players continue to show while they deserve regular matches in the first team.
Lampard made lot of changes to his line up by welcoming some of his player back from injury and they really impressed him with the outcome of the matches. Players like Hudson-Odoi, Reece were selected for the game which is actually their first game for the club this season, both players after playing in the developmental team to be match fit, returns to action for the club and they look like what the team has been missing since the start of the season. Reece was identified by many fans as a fine replacement for Azpilicueta in the right back due to the poor defending form of the Spanish player so far this season started the match yesterday and it was a debut match for him.
Hudson-Odoi also returns to action after missing out to injury and it was just a perfect time for him to return to the team from injury. The teenager just signed another contract with the club and put an end to speculation linking him away from the club and it is going to be a major boost for the club as the season proceed upfront with the way he moves the ball and dribble past opposition players.
Four players actually made their debuts in that particular encounter with Gilmour also starting his first match for the club. The 18 years old player established himself in the midfield alongside Barkley and Pulisic and took control of the game which makes many of the club fans labelled him the new Fabregas. He made 96 passes together with 102 touches with 96% passing accuracy and with time, he will be a great player for the club.
The host took the lead in just 4 minutes of the game through Ross Barkley after receiving a pass from Pedro and instead of passing the ball to another player decided to find his way in before firing a shot past McKeown. Batshuayi doubled the lead 3 minutes later before Matt Green scoring a long range effort to make it 2-1 in the 19 minutes but Pedro took the scoreline to 3-1 in favour of the blues when he scored from the spot and that was the only difference between both clubs in the first half of the game.
The second half resumed and the blues this time around punished the visitors with another 4 goals to make it 7-1 at the end of the game. Kurt Zouma made it 5 before Reece scoring his debut goal for the blues after providing the assist for Zouma to score. Batshuayi completed his brace in the 86 minutes before Hudson-Odoi rounding up everything in the 89 minutes and that was a massive win for Frank Lampard who actually took the risk to make 11 changes to the line up and bringing in some academy graduates.
