Chelsea play their first game under new coach, draw with Salzburg at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea have a lot to make up for after a poor start to the season. The Blues are sixth in the Premier League table and lost to Dinamo Zagreb in the first leg of the Champions League group stage last week. Because of this, the club’s management has sacked coach Thomas Tuchel, who has been replaced by Graham Potter.

Due to the postponement of this weekend’s matches in the top English competition, the former Brighton coach made his debut on the bench of the London team only in the clash with Red Bull Salzburg. The latter drew with AC Milan last time out and is in a better frame of mind overall, as it leads the Austrian league standings with a three-point lead over the LASK side.

Chelsea were the more active team from the start, but Potter’s charges did not get any chances for a long time. After half an hour, the game was stopped for a while as Slovakian referee Ivan Kružliak solved communication problems with VAR.

In the 40th minute, Mason Mount sent a dangerous shot from outside the box, but it missed the space between the three posts. Then the visitors scored their first shot, an attempt by Šešek was defused by goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. At the end of the opening act, Kovačić finished with a header that hit the hand of Bernardo. However, there was no illegal hit and therefore no penalty was kicked.

Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle tried to liven up his team’s performance with a half-time substitution. Maurits Kjaergaard was replaced by the summer signing from Saint-Étienne, Lucas Gourna-Douath. It didn’t help the Austrian team to start the second half well.

In the 48th minute, Chelsea took the lead thanks to Raheem Sterling’s goal from outside the penalty area. The English striker sent the ball precisely to the back post of goalkeeper Philipp Köhn.

In the 73rd minute, the visiting Noah Okafor had a chance, but he did not direct his header into the net. A few dozen seconds later, the Swiss striker was able to celebrate as he equalised with a successful cross from the right after Adamu’s pass.

And because Chelsea did not take advantage of any of their scoring opportunities late in the game, Graham Potter started his new engagement with a draw against Salzburg. The Stamford Bridge club are making it difficult to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League as they are last in Group E with one point.

Source: UEFA, Premier Sport 2