HAZARD
A second consecutive victory, and another clean sheet,
made it a welcome return to Premier League action as the Blues ran out
comfortable 3-0 winners against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge this
afternoon.
It was an impressive, dominant Chelsea display from start to
finish and the winning margin could easily have been more significant.
Diego Costa and Eden Hazard scored
first-half goals to put us in the ascendancy and Victor Moses, excellent throughout, added
a third late in the game.
David Luiz hit the
woodwork with a brilliant free-kick and midfield partners N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic both went
close after the break.
There was just one change to
the side which won at Hull a fortnight ago with Pedro coming
in for Willian,
who is currently away on compassionate leave. Our players wore black armbands
in honour of the Brazilian’s mother who sadly passed away earlier this week.
Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Gary Cahill made up a
three-man defence and there was a home debut for Marcos Alonso at left-wing-back. Kante,
playing against his former club for the first time, and Matic, were paired together in midfield.
John Terry, available for the first time
since picking up an injury in our away game at Swansea, was named among the
substitutes on a youthful bench.
Branislav
Ivanovic, John Mikel
Obi and Cesc Fabregas were
unavailable due to minor muscle injuries, the first two picked up on
international duty, while Oscar flew back
to Brazil due to a serious family illness.
It took just six minutes for
the Blues to open the scoring and it was no surprise in-form Diego Costa was the man
who gave us the lead.
The striker had linked up
well with Pedro and Victor Moses down the
right-hand side, with the Nigerian, operating as a right wing-back, eventually
forcing a corner. When Eden Hazard’s delivery was flicked on at
the near post by Alonso, Diego Costa stole in unmarked to fire
a left-footed drive beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
It was his seventh goal of
the campaign and gave Conte’s men the perfect start.
The Blues sprung into life in
an attacking sense after the goal with Alonso and Hazard in
particular linking up well on the left. The Belgian saw a dangerous cross cut
out by Wes Morgan before Alonso supplied another teasing delivery, seeking out
Moses, which was diverted behind.
Kante then picked out Hazard with
a scooped pass over the top of the Leicester defence but the winger, on the
move, was unable to wrap his foot around the ball and sent his volley up and
into the arms of Schmeichel.
As the central figure in the
back three David Luiz was seeing
a lot of the ball and using it intelligently, while wing-backs Alonso and Moses
were asking questions of Leicester full-backs Luis Hernandez and Christian
Fuchs.
Former Chelsea defender
Robert Huth became the first player to be shown a yellow card when he clattered Hazard from behind on the edge of the
box, and from the resulting free-kick David Luiz
crashed a brilliant effort against the top of the post with Schmeichel well
beaten.
As the half-hour mark ticked
by it had been all Chelsea, and 12 minutes before half-time Hazard
scored a deserved second.
Matic picked up
possession on the halfway line and attempted to thread the ball through to Hazard, but as Pedro and a couple of Leicester defenders also
challenged for possession, the Spaniard, who had tumbled to the ground, smartly
volleyed the ball into his team-mates’ path.Hazard still had
work to do but he made it look easy, taking the ball around Schmeichel and
rolling it into the empty net for his third goal of the season.
Hazard’s celebration mirrored that of Diego Costa,
with both players holding their fingers aloft in a way which paid tribute to Willian.
Having already hit the
woodwork with one free-kick David Luiz then
went close with another, this time from further out, the Brazilian’s dipping
effort forcing Schmeichel into an uncomfortable punched clearance.
Within seconds of the start
of the second half we were appealing for a penalty and looked to have a
legitimate claim. A lofted ball out from the back found Pedro,
who brought it down brilliantly and then saw his shot appear to strike the arm
of Fuchs. Andre Marriner, however, disagreed and signalled for play to
continue.
Leicester were then appealing
for a penalty of their own when Moses and Jeffrey Schlupp tangled in the
Chelsea box but again the referee saw nothing in it.
Ten minutes into the second
half a brilliant break almost led to a third Chelsea goal after Hazard
had done well to flick on a Pedro clearance. Kante was
first on to the loose ball and advanced into the Leicester half before expertly
picking out the excellent run of Moses, who saw his first-time strike saved by
Schmeichel.
It was developing into a
free-flowing contest and the visitors were almost handed a route back into the
game when Marc Albrighton’s cross was diverted against the foot of the post by David Luiz.
Nathaniel Chalobah was
introduced 23 minutes from time and slotted into midfield alongside Matic and Kante in a bid to
add more defensive steel, Pedro the player
making way.
Kante then passed up a glorious
opportunity to make it 3-0 when his close-range effort was deflected behind by
Morgan.
With 11 minutes remaining,
though, the impressive Moses capped a superb display by making it 3-0,
exchanging passes with Chalobah and calmly beating Schmeichel with a cool
finish.
Ola Aina was
handed his Premier League debut for the final 10 minutes when he replaced Moses
while Ruben Loftus-Cheek came on for Hazard.
Overall, it was a positive
day for the Blues with many reasons to be optimistic and we now look forward to
another home game next Sunday, the visit of Manchester United.
Chelsea
(3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c);
Moses (Aina 80), Kante, Matic,
Alonso; Pedro (Chalobah
67), Diego Costa, Hazard (Loftus-Cheek 80).
Unused subs: Begovic, Terry , Batshuayi, Solanke.
Scorers Diego Costa 7, Hazard 33, Moses 79
Booked Azpilicueta 51
Leicester (4-4-2): Schmeichel; Hernandez, Huth,
Morgan (c), Fuchs; Albrighton (King 73),
Drinkwater, Amartey, Schlupp (Mahrez
66); Vardy, Musa (Slimani 66).
Unused subs: Zieler, Simpson, Gray, Ulloa
Booked Huth 26
Referee Andre
Marriner
Crowd 41,547
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