Chelsea set to finish third after Leicester draw

LONDON: Chelsea defender Marco Alonso scored an excellent equaliser to earn a 1-1 residence draw with Leicester City on Thursday (May 19) and successfully seal third place within the Premier League forward of the ultimate spherical of fixtures this weekend.

The draw lifted Chelsea to 71 factors, 19 behind leaders Manchester City and three forward of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in fourth, however Chelsea’s far superior purpose distinction means Spurs don’t have any life like probability of overtaking them.

While they are going to be delighted to seal third place, Chelsea might be disenchanted not to win a sport that noticed them produce 27 photographs however solely the one purpose as they dominated possession.

In distinction, Leicester scored with their solely effort on track after seven minutes as Kasper Schmeichel despatched a sweeping lengthy ball to Timothy Castagne and his deflected go fell into the trail of James Maddison who curled a shot previous Edouard Mendy.

Chelsea’s Thirty fourth-minute equaliser was beautiful as Reece James lofted a diagonal ball into the world for Alonso to volley residence and it regarded a matter of time earlier than they added to their tally.

Thiago Silva despatched a raking ball into the field however the energetic Hakim Ziyech couldn’t join with it as Chelsea sought to flip their dominance into targets.

They earned quite a few corners and free kicks across the space and although Leicester’s unfastened defending at set items has proved pricey all season, Schmeichel was rapidly off his line to declare the ball and avert hazard.

As the clock ticked in direction of the hour mark Ziyech threatened twice, first from a free kick after which with a shot from the sting of the field, however once more Schmeichel snuffed out the menace.

Christian Pulisic missed an excellent probability to bag the winner for Chelsea, fully miscuing his shot from Romelu Lukaku’s ball throughout the face of purpose and sending his effort broad, and the hosts had been to come no nearer as the sport ended all sq..

Chelsea spherical off their league marketing campaign at residence to relegated Watford on Sunday when Leicester, who’re in ninth place on 49 factors, host Southampton.