There
were only a couple of minutes on the clock at the Amex Stadium when Timo
Werner, Chelsea's £45m signing from RB Leipzig, provided the first glimpse
of what he can bring to Frank Lampard's attack.
With an explosive diagonal run from left to right, the 24-year-old latched
onto a long pass over the top from Reece James, dragging Ben White out of
position as he did so, before firing a dangerous cross into the box which
only narrowly missed the onrushing Mason Mount.
The assistant belatedly raised his flag for offside, meaning it wouldn't
have counted anyway, but the combination of speed, anticipation and
awareness still made for a neat encapsulation of the qualities that
persuaded Lampard to place Werner at the top of his summer wish list.
He arrives in the Premier League with a stellar reputation having scored 95
goals in 159 games for RB Leipzig. His pedigree is such that, even before
kick-off at the Amex, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said he would be
"absolutely amazed" if he doesn't hit at least 20 goals for Chelsea this
season.
But Werner hasn't just been signed for his goals. He is also seen as someone
who can give Chelsea something different to Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud
up front, someone with the pace and acceleration to stretch defences and the
intelligent movement to get in behind them.
It could be seen in those early stages at the Amex. Abraham and Giroud were
caught offside less than once per game on average last season, but Werner
had been flagged twice inside eight minutes. He was making the kind of runs
Chelsea didn't previously make often enough.
It was his speed and alertness that led to the opening goal. Werner was
ready and waiting for Jorginho's through ball after Steven Alzate had lost
possession, and even though the pass was over-hit, he was still quick enough
to get there before the advancing Mat Ryan to win the penalty. "He was onto
that in a flash," said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.
There were more eye-catching moments. Shortly before half-time, Werner
launched a counter-attack deep in Chelsea territory before sprinting forward
to join Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who should have done better with his return
pass. "Werner is absolutely razor sharp and lightning quick," observed Alan
Smith on co-commentary.
Werner would have been in had Loftus-Cheek been able to find him on that
occasion, but he created a shooting chance for himself not long afterwards,
accelerating away from Adam Webster on the left-hand side of the Brighton
box and unleashing a vicious drive from close to the byline which forced a
panicked near-post save from Ryan.
Werner finished the evening without a goal, but that diagonal effort was one
of five shots he attempted over the course of the 90 minutes. He was denied
by a heroic block from White in the closing stages and there was a
backheeled effort which cannoned into a Brighton defender too.
Chelsea will be encouraged by Werner's sharpness in and around the Brighton
box - "he has a real hunger to score goals and be ruthless in that area,"
Lampard told Sky Sports afterwards - but it's his willingness to drop into
midfield and pull to the flanks which is most intriguing.
"I love the way Timo pops up in different areas," added Lampard. "He's not a
frontman who attaches to centre-backs so much. Sometimes he can start from a
little bit deeper, but when he goes, he goes."
Werner's movement caused Brighton problems throughout. Rather than being a
static target up front, he was constantly on the move, often charging
towards the box from the left-hand side. He made dangerous runs whenever
Chelsea had possession and chased down Brighton players whenever they
didn't.
His work-rate was impressive, and perhaps explains why Lampard was happy to
leave him on until the final whistle despite having Abraham and Giroud in
reserve. According to Premier League tracking data, Werner made more sprints
than anyone else on the pitch. Only the famously industrious N'Golo Kante
covered more ground.
Werner was pictured with an ice pack attached to his knee after the game,
revealing in his post-match interview with Sky Sports that his collision
with Ryan for the penalty had hindered him for the remainder of the
encounter. But it certainly didn't look that way out on the pitch.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Kai Havertz was far quieter on his debut,
suggesting he may need time to adapt to the Premier League, but Werner took
to it without any problems. It seems he has already added a new dimension to
Chelsea's attack.
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