Feast your eyes on Jacob Steinberg’s match report:
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The Chelsea goalscorers talk. “We deserved to win tonight, we needed to win,” says Willian, the match-winner. “We have been working hard every day, every game and the lads did an amazing job. Now we have to carry on.” As for the birthday boy, Tammy Abraham, 22 today, says: “We came into the game and we knew we needed to win. I knew I’d get my chance today and I think I took it well. A fantastic team performance. We needed three points.”
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Liverpool got over the line at Anfield:
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Chelsea supporters serenade Frank Lampard at the final whistle. They’re over the moon with that. That was an encouraging performance, though Kepa nor Tomori will not want to see a replay of that late Soumaré chance in a hurry. Elsewhere in Group H, Ajax have wiped the floor with Valencia, winning 3-0 in Spain. That result means Chelsea are third on goal difference after two games.
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Full-time: Lille 1-2 Chelsea
It was not without a couple of late scares but Chelsea get the job done. Willian, on his 300th appearance, is ultimately the match-winner after Tammy Abraham scored his first Champions League goal to open the scoring in northern France.
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90+2 min: What is going on? Kepa makes a total hash of a clearance after Tomori overcooks a simple pass back to his goalkeeper. Kepa gets it all wrong, slicing the ball up into the air and laying it on a plate for Boubakary Soumaré, who rushes on to the loose ball. Soumaré must think he is going to tuck the ball away but Kepa smothers. Heart-in-mouth stuff for Frank Lampard. Chelsea – just about – get off the hook.
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90+1 min: Renato Sanches steals possession from Pedro before passing the baton over to Yacizi, who drives Lille forward. Marcos Alonso does brilliantly, tracking back to clear deep inside the Chelsea 18-yard box. Lille attempt to regurgitate things but Xeka’s shot is tame at the end of another probing move.
90 min: There will be a minimum of four added minutes.
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89 min: Pedro buys a foul of Xeka on halfway. Cleverly done.
87 min: Mateo Kovacic replaces Mason Mount, who has been a bit of a passenger the last 20 minutes or so. Willian seemingly went off with cramp. Chelsea are going to have to dig deep late on.
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85 min: Pedro replaces Willian.
83 min: Right on cue, Tomori gets away with one. Big time. Alonso plays a routine pass back to the defender, who dozes off as the ball zooms beyond him and Victor Osimhen is in. The Nigeria striker skates forward, bearing down on goal but Kepa nicks the ball away. Whether the goalkeeper made any contact with the striker it is unclear – but Osimhen is adamant he should have had a penalty.
82 min: Fikayo Tomori does superbly to shepherd Jonathan Bamba out of play, relieving a spell of pressure as Chelsea win a goal-kick. Chelsea have had their moments at the back but Tomori has been a class act. Lampard had him with him at Derby last year.
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80 min: That’s a huge goal for Chelsea. As for Abraham’s opener, here are a couple of meaningless stats to boot, courtesy of Opta: Abraham’s goal (assisted by Tomori) was Chelsea’s first in the Champions League scored and assisted by two English players since March 2012, when Frank Lampard set up John Terry against Napoli. Fan of that one? Here’s another. Abraham is the second Englishman to score on his birthday in the Champions League, after Raheem Sterling (for Manchester City v Borussia Mönchengladbach in December 2015).
GOAL! Lille 1-2 Chelsea (Willian, 78)
The Brazilian strikes on his 300th Chelsea appearance. Callum Hudson-Odoi is the catalyst, way out on the left flank. The teenager gets the better of his marker and floats a cross in towards the back post, where Willian is hovering. As the ball drops, Willian volleys it across goal, into the corner beyond Maignan. A sweet hit, and a priceless goal as far as Chelsea are concerned. A trademark punch of the air by Lampard follows. He’s made up with that.
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75 min: Lille make another change. Luiz Araújo is replaced by Xeka, whose real name is, wait for it ... Miguel Ângelo da Silva Rocha.
71 min: End-to-end, now. Araujo puts a fire out in defence as Abraham fires across goal and Lille promptly shoot up the other end through Victor Osimhen, who flashes an effort just wide! The angle was always against him.
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69 min: Azpilicueta’s cross eludes everyone in the box! It was a beautiful ball in but Abraham could not get anything on it. This game could still go either way. At Anfield, a seventh goal:
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68 min: Renato Sanches is still only 22. Who knew? The Portuguese midfielder, not so long ago of Swansea, replaces Benjamin André.
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67 min: Callum Hudson-Odoi, the 18-year-old, replaces wing-back Reece James for his Champions League debut. Can Hudson-Odoi provide the impetus Chelsea require? James impressed going forward and held his own defensively.
64 min: Right on cue Willian speeds down the right flank and drills a low ball across goal. José Fonte does well to get across and sweep clear, reading the danger, with Mason Mount lurking in the box. Chelsea flight the ball back in towards the back post, where Alonso stabs at goal on the half-volley but it’s not a clean strike. Chelsea will have to start over. Lille have proved stubborn.
63 min: It is all a bit pedestrian from Chelsea, whose only real tactic has been to ping the ball out wide to one of Alonso or James.
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61 min: Ikone’s night is over. Yusuf Yazici, a Turkish international, is on in his place. Ikone is presumably withdrawn as a result of that monstrous challenge by Zouma.
59 min: Meanwhile, Salzburg have pulled level at Anfield:
57 min: Lille are knocking on the door, probing through Ikone and Bamba. Just as Ikone thinks he has found a way through the Chelsea back line, he is challenged by Kurt Zouma, who makes an excellent sliding tackle on the forward.
54 min: That chance has revved up the locals. Chelsea have been on the ropes at the back at times but have otherwise looked comfortable without offering an awful lot going forward. The onus has been on Reece James or Marcos Alonso to cause problems, which they have done on occasions. But Chelsea have struggled to get much service in to Abraham or Willian and co.
52 min: Lille go close! Benjamin André ghosts in to the front post and Kepa does magnificently to get fingertips to his glanced header. Chelsea survive. It all stemmed from a contentious corner – as far as Lille were concerned anyway. Gabriel tumbled in the box with Tomori in close proximity but it seemed nothing more than that, and the match officials agreed. But from the resulting corner, Lille almost take the lead, with André flicking a header at goal.
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49 min: ... Tomori gets up but heads over.
48 min: Mandava does well to swing a leg at a teasing Reece James cross – but Chelsea waste the resulting corner. It was a wonderful ball in from the right, whipped in at speed towards the front post. Chelsea have had plenty of joy in wide areas. But back come Chelsea, who win another corner. Willian will float it in again ...
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47 min: No changes at the interval, other than the Belarusian referee Aleksei Kulbakov remembering to pick up a canister of vanishing spray.
46 min: Victor Osimhen gets the second half started.
Before we get back under way, some news:
Elsewhere, Liverpool lead 3-1:
Half-time: Lille 1-1 Chelsea
Level-pegging at the interval.
45+2 min: Jorginho rattles a post! A sweeping first-time effort clips the outside of Mike Maignan’s left post. A wonderful effort by the midfielder, who was lurking on the edge of the box after Chelsea surged down the left flank through Alonso. Almost! Alonso’s initial ball caused havoc, with Abraham sticking a leg out to try and latch on to it but Chelsea recycled possession, laying the ball on for Jorginho to smack an effort towards goal. Inches away.
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45 min: There will be two added minutes.
44 min: N’Golo Kanté loses possession on the edge of the Lille box and, as Boubakary Soumaré breaks with the ball, Willian makes a clumsy challenge. But the hosts fail to do anything with it and Ikone is booked for hauling down a roaming Fikayo Tomori. Alonso heads harmlessly over from the resulting Mount free-kick.
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42 min: ... Alonso takes aim – but his free-kick is wayward.
40 min: Ikone slips in Bamba, it looks as though the Lille forward is in ... but Reece James gets across to intercept. On a booking, he had to be careful but the wing-back used his strength to get the upper hand. Chelsea flood forward up the other end and Mason Mount draws a foul from José Fonte. Free-kick, 20-odd yards out ...
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37 min: Victor Osimhen is almost in again, slipped through one-on-one 30 yards out – but Kepa races off his line to clear. The 20-year-old had eluded Kurt Zouma in the Chelsea defence. Soon after Osimhen is embroilde in a contretemps with Azpilicueta but the referee is quick to cool things down.
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36 min: Lille’s tails are suddenly up on the back of that equaliser. Jonathan Bamba does brilliantly to bamboozle Abraham on the byline after Alonso was pressured into a mistake by José Fonte. Chelsea have gone from cruising to struggling to clear their lines.
35 min: Reece James is booked on his Champions League debut for for a crude foul on the Lille forward Ikone. In terms of the hosts’ leveller, Lampard warned Chelsea they could not switch off but a moment’s lax defending and Lille are level.
GOAL! Lille 1-1 Chelsea (Osimhen, 33)
Chelsea are punished. Lille spray an inswinging corner into the box and Victor Osimhen gets up unmarked to nod in. That’s the Nigeria striker’s seventh goal of the season. But so, so sloppy from a Chelsea perspective. Their zonal marking was absent.
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31 min: Cracking save by Kepa! Chelsea get ovverun in midfield and Luiz Araújo steps inside to bend a left-footed shot at goal but the Chelsea goalkeeper is equal to it. Lille came scampering upfield, seizing on Willian surrendering possession and, before Chelsea had chance to gather themselves, Araújo almost had the ball in the net. And now Lille, piling on the pressure, win a corner ...
29 min: Kepa does a keepie-uppie and thuds the ball clear as Chelsea get a bit hot under the collar in defence, before Abraham lures Gabriel into making a foul. Meanwhile, some more advice from our very unoffical travel bureau. “Not sure where Msr O’Leary went in Lille but I think he must have missed the incredible Vieux Lille area and the Flemish-style squares and fantastic restaurants,” emails Paul Jaines. “He should have ventured outside of his Formula 1 hotel next to the motorway ... if he wanted grim he should have gone up the road to Roubaix.”
27 min: Lampard will be pretty chuffed with this, though Chelsea have made some odd decisions in possession. Zouma has just plonked a pass out of defence straight to a red Lille shirt. Still, Chelsea very much in the driving seat.
25 min: Mount almost doubles Chelsea’s lead. The midfielder possibly should have done better. Things are looking good.
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GOAL! Lille 0-1 Chelsea (Abraham, 22)
A 22nd-minute goal on his 22nd birthday for Tammy Abraham. Fikayo Tomori threaded a pass through to the penalty spot, where Mount and Abraham were lurking and the striker takes a touch before prodding home from close range. He finds the corner perfectly. The VAR checks for offside but he’s a yard on. The striker’s good form rolls on, that his eighth goal of the season – but his first in the Champions League. Lille went to sleep defensively.
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20 min: Chelsea get off the hook! Kanté’s pass is loose and Kurt Zouma makes a mess of his clearance, allowing the ball to bounce before it bobbles kindly for the Lille frontman Victor Osimhen. Fortunately for Chelsea, Kepa is alert and snuffs out the danger, racing out of goal to head clear and extinguish a sloppy spell.
19 min: Alonso is beaten to the ball by Celik – but the Lille defender is pulled up for catching the Spaniard with his trailing leg. Chelsea win a free-kick just inside their own half and earn another chance to get back on the front foot. Lille have offered precious little but Chelsea’s grip on this game has dwindled.
17 min: Mount volleys wide! Celik nods a headed clearance from a dinked Jorginho pass straight into the midfielder’s path but he gets his angles all wrong and it flashes a few yards wide in the end. Mount did superbly to chest the ball to set himself but the execution was not quite so impressive.
13 min: Zouma gets up to power the ball back where it came from. Lille have been very tentative in their buildup play but do look capable on the counter. Chelsea, as Lampard was at pains to emphasise pre-match, cannot afford to switch off as they did against Valencia or they risk being punished.
12 min: Chelsea continue to flood forward. Meanwhile, some travel advice for those of you mulling over a trip to France. “The parade of talent quickly leaving Lille is no surprise to me,” emails Shane O’Leary. “I had to stop over in Lille a few weeks back, it was grim. Mind you, Montpellier is brilliant.”
9 min: Mike Maignan punches clear – but he makes a bit of a meal of it. It stemmed from Willian nudging the ball back for Reece James, who whipped in a wonderful, inviting first-time cross. Up goes Tammy Abraham but he cannot get there. Maignan does, even if unconvincingly and the chance is gone. Chelsea have had plenty of early joy with those wing-backs, James and Alonso.
7 min: Chelsea, momentarily, are at sixes and sevens in defence. Lille counterattack at speed and after Reece James scuffs his clearance, Azpilicueta steps in to make a clearance. Nanitamo Ikone has a pop from the resulting corner but it is Tammy Abraham who makes an all-important block.
5 min: Marcos Alonso fizzes a ball across goal – but Chelsea cannot get anyone on the end of it! Willian tries to keep the move alive at the back post and recycles possession but neither Mount or Abraham can get a toe to it. Lille have barely had a sniff. Only José Fonte has had a genuine touch of the ball, and that was a clearance.
3 min: Neat flick by Willian into Mason Mount, who tries and fails to release Tammy Abraham. Chelsea rework the ball down the left flank but José Fonte, the Lille captain, gets across to intervene. Back come Chelsea.
2 min: Chelsea hogging plenty of the ball, knocking it about for fun. They shuffle it across the back line and out wide to Alonso.
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1 min: Chelsea are very much three at the back, with Tomori, Zouma and Azpilicueta in situ. Reece James is at right wing-back.
Peeeeeeeeeeeep!
Tammy Abraham gets us under way.
The teams trudge out of the tunnel. We are just the pre-match formalities – a few handshakes and that infectious, rip-roaring Champions League anthem – away from the off at Stade Pierre Mauroy. A decent atmosphere is building.
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Eight minutes until kick-off. Any predictions?
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Frank Lampard talks. Of Reece James, who spent last season ripping it up at Wigan Athletic, he says: “I’ve known him since his academy days and saw him be fantastic in the Championship last season. He had a good game against Grimsby and I think he has quality, which he can bring to this game. Reece is another young one and it’s a great game for him.” As for the return of N’Golo Kanté, he adds: “He has had a stop-start season but I’m pleased to have him back in. He brings us great energy.”
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Oooooh Tammy Tammy! It’s the striker’s 22nd birthday. Abraham is said to be in line for a call-up to the England squad, which Gareth Southgate names on Thursday. England take on Czech Republic and Bulgaria in Euro 2020 qualifiers this month. Nigeria have been trying to convince Abraham, who has scored seven goals in nine appearances, to pledge his international future their way.
The Chelsea skipper speaks. “We have been working hard on the way he [Frank Lampard] wants us to play,” says César Azpilicueta. “We want to bring every game the feeling of wearing the Chelsea shirt, to play with pride and give everything. The only way I can see this team going is up.” Did Lampard always seem destined for management? “Yes, you could see his intelligence on the pitch, the will to win. As a manager, he is the same, always trying to get better and improve. The hunger to win is still the same, even if he has transferred his motivation.”
Should he step off the bench, the 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi will make his Champions League debut, having made the bench two years ago against Barcelona. Christian Pulisic made his as a 17-year-old for Borussia Dortmund but Frank Lampard cannot find room for the young American among the substitutes. He has been an unused sub in four of Chelsea’s past five matches, playing 90 minutes against, er, Grimsby Town, in the other. And now he’s not in the squad. Pulisic, a £58m signing, last week said: “I want to play as many minutes as I can, that is really my goal, I want to be on the field ... it is tough for me right now. It is very frustrating, but I will continue to work my hardest because I want to play.” Perhaps those comments didn’t go down too well with Lamps.
Team news news: N’Golo Kanté starts after shaking off a hamstring injury, while Willian makes his 300th appearance in a Chelsea shirt. Reece James starts but there is no space for Christian Pulisic or Ross Barkley in the 18-man squad, with the latter absent presumably as a result of spilling chips over a Liverpool cabbie’s backseat. Loïc Rémy is on the bench for the hosts:
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Team news!
Lille (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Çelik, Gabriel, José Fonte, Reinildo; Soumaré, André; Araujo, Ikoné, Bamba; Osimhen
Subs: César, Soumaoro, Xeka, Rémy, Yazici, Sanches, Bradaric
Chelsea (3-4-3): Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Tomori; James, Kanté, Jorginho, Alonso; Willian, Abraham, Mount
Subs: Caballero, Christensen, Pedro, Kovacic, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)
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Preamble
Lille has proved a fertile breeding ground for a raft of familiar faces and the odd superstar, none more so than Eden Hazard, a player Chelsea supporters still hold close to their hearts. Divock Origi, Sofiane Boufal, Idrissa Gueye and Djibril Sidibe all started their careers in earnest in northern France before skipping across the channel. As did a few Premier League greats: Pascal Cygan, Peter Odemwingie and Mathieu Debuchy. Now they boast José Fonte and Renato Sanches, whose last game against Chelsea saw him pass to an advertising hoarding. Hazard is at Real Madrid but is cherished by Chelsea, who could do with a win to get their Champions League tilt off the ground. Frank Lampard, captain when Chelsea won the competition seven years ago, knows they need to be savvier and smarter than they were against Valencia to get the wheels in motion. “It was a harsh lesson in switching off for a second and losing a match at this level,” Lampard said. “I think that idea ramps up even more when you travel in the Champions League and play away from home at stadiums like this against top European teams.” Lille, who are coached by Christophe Galtier, once assistant manager to Alain Perrin at Portsmouth, these days resemble a Premier League old boys’ club, with Fonte, Loïc Rémy and Sanches, who had a torrid time at Swansea, all likely to feature but they far from whipping boys; they finished second in Ligue 1 last season. As for Chelsea, they are boosted by the return of Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud, who missed victory over Brighton.
Kick-off: 8pm (BST)
