Analytics Report: Champions League Match Of The Week – Matchday 3 – Chelsea vs Milan

AC Milan visited Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in their third game of the Champions League this season. Milan’s starting lineup wasn’t encouraging for the away fans, with several crucial players out injured. Chelsea were expected to get the win comfortably, so it turned out as the home side smashed Milan 3-0.

Fofana scored the opening goal in the first half before his injury forced Graham Potter to replace him with Chalobah. Aubameyang scored in the second half to double their lead as six minutes later, Reece James made it 3-0. The right wingback was sensational on the night as Chelsea eased past the Italian Champions, who, in fairness, were depleted with injuries.

Also read: Analytics Report: Premier League Player Of The Week – Matchday 9 – Leandro Trossard & Erling Haaland

Here we have the analytics chart from the game, which compares the key statistics between the two sides. It comes as no surprise, as Chelsea outperformed Milan in every single metric.

Interestingly, Chelsea outperformed their xG of 1.2 by scoring 3, while Milan accumulated an xG of 0.6, and Milan had a significantly low amount of shots (4) while Chelsea had 10 with 6 on target. Chelsea recorded 15 shot-creating actions, with Milan recording just 6. The only metric where Milan came close to Chelsea was the progressive passes, with Milan recording 22 compared to Chelsea’s 23.

Considering the level of domination by Chelsea, you would have expected Milan to outperform Chelsea in some of the defensive metrics. However, Chelsea were surprisingly better than Milan in defending as well. They registered 21 blocks to Milan’s 13 while completing 5 more tackles as well. Chelsea completed 28 interceptions, while Milan completed just 15.

In all, it was an emphatic victory for the Blues, who seem to be finding their feet under new manager Graham Potter.