Chelsea got off to a fine start in the EFL Cup with a 3-2 victory against Bristol Rovers, with Antonio Conte fielding what was mostly a second string side.
There were rare starts for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ola Aina and Victor Moses as Antonio Conte looked to mix things up before their Premier League clash against Burnley at home in 3 days time. Chelsea fans were treated to 3 goals form the home side in the first half, with 2 from new signing Michy Batshuayi and one from Victor Moses. A header from Peter Hartley in the first and Ellis Harrison in the second put the League One side right back in the game, but the Blues managed to hold on to their lead and come out victorious.
After impressing in Chelsea’s pre-season fixtures, fans had hoped that Chelsea youngster Ola Aina would play in the first team this season, given the club’s defensive difficulties. After the first two games of the season, fans were less than impressed with the veteran Ivanovic, with many of them calling for him to be axed. A lot of the Blues’ faithful were pleased with the inclusion of the 19-year-old Englishman in the squad.
Big day for Ola Aina. Goes all the way from U11s to his first Chelsea start.
— J. Tweedie (@JoeTweedie) August 23, 2016
praying ola aina does a madness tonight and cements his spot, come on lad
— Màtt (@MattCFC_) August 23, 2016
Ola Aina’s debut and it’s not being televised. This reeks of racism.
— #CarefreeDaily (@CarefreeDaily) August 23, 2016
Congrats to Ola Aina who is tonight making his Chelsea debut. Bright future. #cfc pic.twitter.com/erRyDRMOxk
— ChelseaTalk (@CheIseaTalk) August 23, 2016
Great to see Ola Aina start in blue shirt. #CFC
— Amaka_Kyle CFC (@Amaka_kyle) August 23, 2016
Will be great to see Ola Aina in his first competitive game for the club. Not so sure about giving Ivanovic the armband tonight though #CFC
— Andre deCunha (@andredecunha) August 23, 2016
Can’t wait to see Aina displace Ivanovic… He has been solid over the years, but enough of his atrocious defending.
— Laolu (@Ola0luwa) August 23, 2016
One of Chelsea’s latest summer recruits, Michy Batshuayi has impressed whenever he came off the bench, assisting Diego Costa for the winner in the first game of the season and scoring the equalizer in the second. He would go on to score his second and third goals in a Chelsea shirt in the first half.
Main positive for me was Batshuayi. So hardworking, great movement, clinical. Such a handful. So pleasantly surprised by him so far.
— Charlie Skillen (@charlieskillen) August 23, 2016
Two goals already for Batshuayi tonight. I imagine this chap has put himself into some kind of w*nking based coma pic.twitter.com/x9s2chlRd8
— Dream Team (@dreamteamfc) August 23, 2016
Batshuayi, ever the sport, even took the time to interact with the fans once again.
@Famous_cole5 i hope so ??
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) August 23, 2016
@elsibai789 it was ok but I could have 3 goals
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) August 23, 2016
@Hazpillian ?? im watching you now you behave good ??
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) August 23, 2016
Michy Batshuayi has two goals and an assist in his first 52 minutes played this season. Decent start to his Chelsea career! #cfc
— Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) August 23, 2016
Chelsea bought batshuayi and he’s continued on his scoring run but we’re still here trying to play alexis through the middle and giroud uno
— Semih Azizoğlu (@semihaziz14) August 23, 2016
Michy Batshuayi’s 2nd goal of the evening as the first half ends 3-1! #CFC [@TweetChelseaUK] pic.twitter.com/IH4diryUMH
— ifyboy (@ifyboy2fine) August 23, 2016
Michy Batshuayi’s first goal vs Bristol Rovers! #CFC [@TweetChelseaUK] pic.twitter.com/lVxGuoFKay
— ifyboy (@ifyboy2fine) August 23, 2016
Never mind Batshuayi costing more than the entire Rovers squad, I think £32M is more than the GDP of the entire Bristol metropolitan area!
— Martin Slade (@slankypuss) August 23, 2016
This is usually the time of the season where Chelsea send Moses out on loan, but to see him make a rare start and appearance on the score-sheet was a pleasant surprise for some of the fans.
In other news, Victor Moses has scored a goal for Chelsea and its NOT pre-season. pic.twitter.com/GSr1J0cihY
— Coral (@Coral) August 23, 2016
Victor Holy Moses
— Chelsea Stats (@ChelseaStats) August 23, 2016
If you can’t recall Victor Moses’ last Chelsea goal, prior to tonight: Basel (h), Europa semi, 2nd leg. May 2013. Frankly, I’d celebrate.
— Dan Levene (@danlevene) August 23, 2016