They went home having scored two at Stamford Bridge, third in the table, still unbeaten, and faintly
irritated about it. That tells you most of what you need to know about the afternoon.The bare facts: Morgan Rogers scored inside seven minutes, Mohamed Belloumi scored twice between
the 28th and the 34th, and João Pedro made it 2-2 on 66. After that came half an hour of two
goalkeepers refusing to be beaten. Chelsea sit fourth, a point and a place behind the team that
was supposed to be relegation fodder.
Seven minutes, again
There is a running joke about this Chelsea side forming already. They have opened the scoring in
all four league games, and every one of those goals has arrived inside seven minutes.
This one came from Rogers shifting away from Regan Slater and drilling a low finish inside the
near post, with João Pedro supplying the pass. It was the first goal Hull had conceded in the
league all season.
Leading early has not been the problem. Chelsea have led in every match they have played and
taken seven points from twelve.
Belloumi’s six minutes
Ryan Giles swung in a looping ball that did not look like a cross so much as a hopeful clearance
in the wrong direction. Jorrel Hato misread the flight of it. Belloumi volleyed past Emiliano
Martínez before anyone in blue had worked out what had gone wrong.
Six minutes later it was worse. Semi Ajayi headed a corner against the crossbar, Oli McBurnie
rolled the loose ball back, and Belloumi finished again, this time with a deflection helping it
on its way.
Hull finished the game with 32% of the ball. Two of their first meaningful arrivals in the Chelsea
box ended up in the net, which is roughly how a promoted side wins points at grounds like this.
João Pedro’s answer, then a goalkeeping contest
Xabi Alonso did not wait. Pep Chavarria replaced Hato at the break, and Chelsea came out looking
like a team that had been told something firm in the dressing room.
Reece James almost levelled with a free-kick that Konstantinos Tzolakis fingertipped away from
the top corner. Cole Palmer then tore down the right and cut the ball back for João Pedro, who
hit it hard and low for 2-2.
The last 25 minutes could have gone either way, and mostly it stayed 2-2 because both keepers
were excellent. Mohamed-Ali Cho should probably have won it for Hull on 88, eight yards out at
the back post, and Martínez got in the way.
Estêvão thought his cross had struck Ajayi’s hand, appealed, got nothing, then made Tzolakis work
again in stoppage time. Palmer had the final act, a 20-yard free-kick that went over the bar as
the whistle went.
Chelsea F.C. vs Hull City lineups
Chelsea (4-2-3-1)
Starting XI: Martínez; Gusto (Welbeck 78), Fofana (Lacroix 86), Colwill,
Hato (Chavarria 46); James (c), Lavia (Barco 70); Rogers, Palmer, Neto (Estêvão 86);
João Pedro.
Unused substitutes: Penders, Acheampong, Quenda, Gittens.
Two changes from the side beaten at Arsenal, with Malo Gusto and Levi Colwill in for Josh
Acheampong and Maxence Lacroix, and a switch back to a four at the back. Barco was booked on 80.
Hull City
Starting XI: Tzolakis; Coyle (Norton-Cuffy 82), Ajayi, Egan, Mendy;
Giles, Crooks, Slater, Stroud (Thomas 60); Belloumi, McBurnie (Vaz 82).
Substitutes used: Cho, Tim Iroegbunam and Lucas Herrington also got on.
Hull collected five yellow cards, which was part of the plan in the loosest sense: Sergej Jakirović
had joked before kick-off that kicking Chelsea’s forwards was about the only way to contain them.
Sorba Thomas played a day after his car flipped over
The strangest story of the day. Thomas came on for Elliot Stroud in the 60th minute, roughly
24 hours after photographs went round of his grey Land Rover Defender upside down on a residential
road near Cottingham, doors open, glass across the tarmac.
He got out without serious injury, passed a medical check, travelled with the squad and was named
on the bench. Only his second Premier League appearance since arriving from Stoke City late in
the window on a contract to 2030.
Most players would have watched that one on television.
What the numbers say
Chelsea had 68% of the ball, 13 shots, eight on target, ten corners. Hull also had 13 shots,
six of them on target, and four corners.
The interesting line is expected goals: Chelsea 0.89, Hull 1.49.
Palmer was the only player on the pitch who created more than two chances, and even he was working
in a game where Chelsea’s volume of possession was not turning into volume of danger.
So the draw was not a smash-and-grab. Hull had the better chances.
Chelsea F.C. vs Hull City standings
Worth noting the round was still being played out when this finished, so games played vary.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 | Hull City | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 | Brentford | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 18 | Fulham | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
While Hull were 2-1 up, they were top of the live table. In mid-September. After beating
Manchester United on the opening weekend.
Chelsea’s problem is at the back and it is no longer new
Rogers has been outstanding. He became the fifth Chelsea player to score or assist in each of
the club’s first four games of a Premier League season, after Drogba, Fàbregas, Costa and Hazard.
João Pedro has three league goals and three assists and is joint-top of both lists. The forward
line is doing its job.
Behind them, the numbers are grim in a way that is starting to look structural. Chelsea have
conceded two or more in each of their opening four top-flight games for the first time since
2015-16. They have gone 20 league matches without a clean sheet.
They have not won any of their last five home league games against newly promoted sides, and the
only previous time they managed that was a stretch running from April 1947 to September 1948.
Three home league games without a win is also a first for Alonso here.
Alonso has been tinkering with the shape to fix it. It has not been fixed.
How good is Hull’s start, really?
Very good, and close to unprecedented for a promoted club. Eight points from four games has been
beaten at this stage by exactly two newly promoted sides in Premier League history: Nottingham
Forest in 1994-95 and Bolton in 2001-02, both on ten.
Add the context. Hull came up through the play-offs, beating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the final,
back in the top flight for the first time since 2016-17, and most bookmakers had them going
straight down again.
They then kept clean sheets in their first three Premier League games, which only Charlton in
1998-99 and Huddersfield in 2017-18 had done as promoted sides.
Their four games:
- 2-0 against Manchester United at the MKM
- 1-0 at Coventry
- 0-0 against Aston Villa
- 2-2 at Chelsea
Nothing flukey about the pattern.
Chelsea vs Hull: a head-to-head record that survived on a technicality
Chelsea have still never lost to Hull in the Premier League. Eleven meetings, eight wins,
three draws. The only club they have faced more often without defeat is Portsmouth, fourteen times.
Saturday did not feel like a proud record being upheld.
Meanwhile at Anfield: Liverpool vs Fulham
Liverpool 0-0 Fulham, and it was not a good goalless draw for the home side. That is three draws
in four league games under Andoni Iraola, who is still waiting for a home league win at the club.
Bradley Barcola made his first start in English league football. Jérémy Jacquet cleared a Gonzalo
García effort off the line and Alisson pushed away a Josh King shot, so Liverpool were arguably
fortunate to get the point at all, even though they edged the shots 14-10 and the xG 1.13 to 0.71.
For Fulham it is a first point of the season and a first under Álvaro Arbeloa after three straight
defeats. For Liverpool, four consecutive Anfield league draws, and only the third time in 63
seasons they have failed to win either of their first two home league games.
Next up
Chelsea go to Brentford on Friday, 8pm at the Gtech. Hull travel to Newcastle on Saturday
19 September. Free midweek for both.
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