Chelsea FC bounce back from midweek defeat to hand basement boys a 5-0 thrashing at Stamford Bridge.
Gonzalo Higuain got off the mark for Chelsea as the Blues bounced back from the midweek humiliation to Bournemouth, dishing out a 5-0 thumping of Huddersfield Town at Stamford Bridge last night.
Two goals from Higuain and Hazard and a header from David Luiz condemned the Terriers to their 18th league defeat of the season, leaving Jan Siewert’s men 13 points adrift from safety with 13 games to play.
It was a brilliant response for Maurizio Sarri’s men against the bottom team of the league, as the Blues scored three or more goals for the first time since November 4, a stat that underlined the Londoners struggles in front of goal this season.
Higuain opened the scoring in the 16th minute following a lovely sliding pass from N’golo Kante and the Argentine buried his chance past Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lössl. Higuain and Hazard had some nice link up play throughout the match with Sky Sports recording 21 pass combinations between the two attackers, meanwhile, the midfield trio of Jorginho, Kante and Barkley controlled the centre of the park. Left back, once again, looked to be an issue as Marcos Alonso was repeatedly caught out at the back and Adama Diakhaby caused some problems on that right hand flank. This issue needs to be recitified as against quality opposition, we will get punished. Sarri, to his credit, recognised this problem, and he switched Willian and Hazard to opposing flanks so the Brazilian could give Alonso some defensive support in the first half.
Cesar Azpilicueta was adjudged to be brought down in the penalty area by Elias Kachunga on the stroke of half-time, and Chelsea talisman Eden Hazard converted the spot kick to double the home side’s lead.
Chelsea continued their dominance after the break, Willian coming close to making it three for the Blues and Huddersfield were unfortunate not to receive their own penalty when Andreas Christensen accidentally and clumsily tripped Kachunga.
Hazard put the result beyond any doubt in the 66th minute, finishing from a tight angle after a nice pass from Ross Barkley, and Higuain added the Blue’s fourth three minutes later when Kante laid the ball to the Argentine, whose strike from outside the box took a slight deflection. David Luiz completed the scoring scoring four minutes before the end of regular time with a free header flicking off a Terriers defender on the way in.
Overall, it was a good performance as a morale boosting victory for the boys is exactly what we needed. Yes, it was against the worst side in the league (with all due respect to Huddersfield), however, we move back into the top four, three points ahead of Arsenal before they face Manchester City at the Ethiad and two goals from our new striker Gonzalo Higuain will certainly fill him with confidence ahead of tougher meetings this month. Most importantly, it takes a bit of pressure off Maurizio Sarri following recent defeats to Arsenal and Bournemouth.
Chelsea and Sarri know there will be tougher tasks to come, with games against Manchester City (February 11), Manchester United (February 19), Manchester City again in the Carabao Cup Final (February 25) and Tottenham Hotspur (February 28). With a cup final and games coming thick and fast in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification, it is the perfect opportunity for the players to prove a point to Sarri and to the fans after being questioned over their mentality.
The OzBlue fan 