Chelsea’s goal in the 6th minute tonight is their earliest at home in 5 years, according to Sky Spots commentary.
Those 5 years have really been the doldrums of our recent form. Even when we’ve been a good team in that period, we’ve struggled to find the net consistently.
So while this is only a single stat, and a curiosity at that, but it is illustrative of a wider problem we’ve had in front of goal and how that’s hurt us.
If we were better able to get the ball in the net early, we would be playing games from a very different perspective. So many of the dreadful results we’ve had in the last couple of years have come because we’re chasing a game or a goal late on, exposing ourselves on the counter.
If we were scoring more early goals, the whole setup of the game changes. The opposition is then attacking us, and exposing themselves to the counter.