Chelsea 2-0 Sheffield United: Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson score as Blues climb into top half and keep their first Premier League clean sheet since early October

• Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson sealed a comfortable victory for Chelsea 
• Chelsea had lost their last two games coming into this but triumphed at home
• ‘There’s no bigger waste of time!’ What is the point of the Club World Cup? It’s All Kicking Off 

If managing Chelsea is akin to time spent in an electric chair, then a comfortable win against Sheffield United will serve as a happier kind of buzz for Mauricio Pochettino.

Good days have been few and far between for him at this peculiar club, but this was one of the better ones. Not perfect, not especially pretty, but better.

In its way it was a showcase for the club’s wider season for the manner in which they flopped around aimlessly for 45 minutes and then offered just enough of a reminder that quality does exist in this squad.

Most of that was supplied by Cole Palmer, who scored the first after 54 minutes and then created the game-killer for Nicolas Jackson a couple of moments later. Palmer was excellent, but then again he usually is. 

In a season of inconsistencies, he is a bankable and reliable commodity for Chelsea, who had taken only four points from the previous 15 on offer.

Some nice play from Raheem Sterling helped Cole Palmer open the scoring at Stamford Bridge

Nicolas Jackson turned the ball into an empty goal for his seventh goal of the season

Mauricio Pochettino will be relieved to get three points after recent Chelsea setbacks

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In these parts that can constitute a crisis and hence the electric chair remark from Pochettino on Friday – for almost an hour here we could appreciate what he meant. 

Indeed, it was probably the creative highlight of Chelsea’s week until Palmer’s contributions kicked in.

In truth, the first half was troubling. Chelsea had masses of the ball and no idea what to with it, but had the good fortune of facing a struggling team with limited desire to push forward. 

Against better opposition that might have been a problem, and maybe it will be if it is replicated in the League Cup against Newcastle on Tuesday, but Sheffield United were in no position to capitalise. By the end, they were well beaten.

For Pochettino, it will be a relief more than a sense of a corner turned.

His desperation for success here was palpable in the five changes he made to the side beaten by Everton. 

Two of those were necessitated by injuries to Robert Sanchez and Reece James, but it was the fielding of four centre-halves and the demotion of Enzo Fernandez that caught the eye.

Palmer powers home Chelsea’s opener early in the second-half to continue his positive form

Palmer has proved a shrewd signing for Pochettino’s side since arriving from Manchester City

Match facts and ratings 

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Petrovic 6; Disasi 6.5, Silva 7, Badiashile 6.5, Colwill 6.5; Gallagher 7, Caicedo 7; Sterling 7 (Broja 74, 6), Palmer 8 (Maatsen 90), Mudryk 7 (Fernandez 69, 6); Jackson 6.5 (Gusto 90)

Substitutes not used: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Nkunku, Gilchrist, Matos

Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 7

Scorers: Palmer 54; Jackson 61 

Booked: Gallagher 

Sheffield United (4-1-4-1): Foderingham 6.5; Bogle 7, Ahmedhodzic 7, Trusty 7, Lowe 6.5; Souza 7; McAtee 6.5, Hamer 6 (Ben Slimane 80), Brooks 6.5, Archer 6; McBurnie 6 (Norwood 67)

Substitutes not used: Davies, Baldock, Traore, Thomas, Osborn, Larouci, Osula

Manager: Chris Wilder 5.5 

Booked: McAtee, Hamer, Lowe

Referee: Andrew Madley 7 Attendance: 39,599

Fernandez won the World Cup with Argentina this time last year but here he was a substitute against a side in the bottom three – strange old game. 

The curiosity of that omission only intensified throughout a peculiar first half in which Chelsea dominated possession but emphatically lacked the sort of precision passing in tight spaces that is Fernandez’s strength.

Without him, they were neat on the ball, but there were no meaningful chances created. Wilder’s deepest of lines made that a trickier task, naturally, but Chelsea lacked the ingenuity to offer more than a few drives off target from distance, which was a pretty poor look.

At the other end, their vulnerabilities were only shown in glimpses, but it will stand as a going concern that on a couple of occasions they rode their luck in allowing balls to be whipped behind their backline. 

One of those, flashed across the six-yard box by Jayden Bogle, was only a fraction too far ahead of Ollie McBurnie and what would have been a tap in had the striker committed more to the run.

Jackson finishes from close range to double Chelsea’s lead just after the hour mark

Once they’d established a two-goal lead there was no prospect of Chelsea throwing it away

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

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It was a modest scare in a sedate half, but it did highlight a recurring reluctance from Sanchez’s stand-in, Djordje Petrovic, to step off his line.

Chelsea were brighter after the break and the impact was quick. Palmer, so isolated in the first half, was involved in both the creation and capping of the goal by playing in Raheem Sterling, who sucked in Andre Brooks before then beating him in a five-yard sprint from a standing start. Having brought the space, Sterling pulled back to Palmer for the finish.

A second quickly followed and it was more valuable than beautiful. Sterling showed bravery in sticking his head on a bouncing ball and bundling through a crowd and from those scruffy beginnings Palmer was able to square to Nicolas Jackson for a tap in. It was his first goal in five games.

Palmer almost created an identical assist for a third but Armando Broja managed to mishit at an open goal from three yards.

 

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