Much of the talk pre-match was about the players who were missing, with Robert Sanchez, Reece James and Marc Cucurella joining the Chelsea injury list against Everton. However, those who came in to replace them when we hosted Sheffield United showed we still have depth to our squad.

Despite our dominance throughout, ending the game with 78 per cent of the possession, there were few chances during a quiet first half. After the break, we made our territorial advantage count, though.

First Cole Palmer started and finished a move, continuing his run into the box to finish Raheem Sterling's low ball across goal and give us the lead. Not long afterwards Palmer turned provider, as his persistence kept the ball alive and gave Nicolas Jackson a simple tap in at the back post.

Meanwhile, it was a comfortable night for goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic on his full debut, with a low save from a second-half free-kick enough to ensure a clean sheet on his first start for Chelsea.

Dominating the ball

The tone for the game was set very early on, in the opening few minutes, when Chelsea enjoyed lots of possession, often deep inside the Sheffield United half, but found little opportunity to carve out a chance with the visitors defending in numbers around the edge of their own penalty area.

It took 15 minutes for the Blues to test goalkeeper Wes Foderingham, and even then it came from distance, as Conor Gallagher refused to give up on the attack and won the ball back quickly from Gustavo Hamer before smashing a high shot, but the keeper was able to hold comfortably.

There was a brief warning when Cameron Archer curled narrowly wide, leading to back-to-back corners for the Blades, but it didn’t last long and the play was soon up the other end. Mykhailo Mudryk did well to beat Jayden Bogle with skill and strength, but Cole Palmer was just beaten to his cut-back by the defender.

Mudryk then had a go himself, curling narrowly wide with his right foot from a very similar position as Archer at the other end, before Moises Caicedo created arguably the best opportunity of a quiet first half. Striding out of midfield and shrugging off the pressure from Vini Souza, the Ecuadorian slid a well-weighted through-ball ahead of Nicolas Jackson, but Foderingham was quick off his line and was able slide in with his feet to deny the Blues striker.

Breakthrough after the break

In a sign of intent after half-time Palmer, now playing wider after a switch with Sterling, twisted and turned away from the defenders on the right of the box, but Sheffield United recovered just in time to block the shot and our resulting corner came to nothing.

It was a warning that Sheffield United didn’t heed, and soon afterwards Palmer did give us the lead, although much of the credit went to Sterling. Cole got the move going outside the box, feeding Sterling on the edge. He stood up Andre Brooks and then surged past him with pace to hit a low ball across goal from the touchline. Palmer had continued his run into the box to meet it with a thumping shot from close range that was past Foderingham and in the back of the net before he saw it.

IChelsea had the lead, and before long we had doubled it. Again it began with Palmer, cutting in on his left and finding Sterling in the box. Things then got a bit scrappy, as Sterling and Gallagher both felt they were pulled back as they tried to create the space to shoot.

Palmer didn’t give up on the chance during the confusion in the Sheffield United box, though, and followed up to keep the ball in play and square across goal, allowing Jackson to tap in from close range at the back post.

Firmly in control

It was all Chelsea now, as those two goal seemed to knock the fight out of the visitors. Sterling nearly got us a third when he latched on to a pass lifted over the defence from Caicedo, but Foderingham was quick to come out again and was able to save.

At the other end, Djordje Petrovic, making his first start for Chelsea following his summer move from New England Revolution in the absence of the injured Robert Sanchez, showed a glimpse of what he could do when the Blades managed their first shot on target around the 70-minute mark, diving low to his left to turn Hamer’s free-kick around the post. That seemed to embolden United again, and they did have the ball in the back of the net from close range, but it didn’t count as the ball had crossed the line to go out of play before James McAtee crossed.

That flurry of energy from the visitors didn't last long, though, and we were able to see out the remainder of the game without giving them a sniff of a way back in, patiently enjoying our possession and mounting the occasional foray forwards. But there was no further impact on the scoreline, despite substitute Armando Broja spurning a chance from a promising position following more good work on the right by Palmer.

What it means

Chelsea get back to winning ways after back-to-back away defeats and move ahead of fellow Londoners Fulham and Brentford to go 10th in the Premier League table.

What is next

Attention will quickly switch to the Carabao Cup, as we host Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge in that competition on Tuesday evening, with kick-off at 8pm. We are then back in Premier League action next weekend, travelling to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a 1pm kick-off on Christmas Eve.

The teams

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Disasi, Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Colwill; Caicedo, Gallagher (c); Sterling (Broja 75), Palmer (Gusto 90+4), Mudryk (Enzo 69); Jackson (Maatsen 90+4)
Unused subs: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Gilchrist, Matos, Nkunku
Scorers: Palmer 54, Jackson 61
Booked: Gallagher 53

Sheffield United (4-3-3): Foderingham; Bogle, Ahmedhodzic (c), Trusty, Lowe; Hamer (Slimane 80), Souza, Brooks (Osula 58); McAtee, McBurnie (Norwood 67), Archer
Unused subs: Davies, Baldock, Larouci, Thomas, Osborn, Traore
Booked: McAtee 42, Lowe 74

Referee: Andrew Madley

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