The Christmas celebrations continued on at Stamford Bridge with a relatively comfortable victory over the south-coast side, with the Blues in control and on top for most of the afternoon with the lead taken midway through the first half.
Thibaut Courtois had to play his part in this win, but with Hazard and Pedro especially lively, more goals were always on the cards and they came early in the second half from the penalty spot and in added time when Pedro grabbed his second of the day and fifth of the season.
Presented with the challenge of replacing suspended topscorer Diego Costa for this match, Conte opted to shuffle his regular attacking players rather than give a full Premier League debut to Michy Batshuayi, so Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro formed the front three. Cesc Fabregas came in for N’Golo Kante who was also serving a one-match ban.
One of those entrusted to take the attack to Bournemouth, who themselves lined up with three at the back having been forced into a change there due to Nathan Ake’s ineligibility, almost got on to the end of a long ball from Azpilicueta but Pedro did not quite have the reach to bring it down and a corner won was the best he could achieve.
It was, in truth, an unremarkable opening 15 minutes to this Boxing Day game. A booking for the Cherries’ on-loan man from Arsenal, Jack Wilshere, for an arm-up challenge on Hazard was the only other incident in that spell.
Not long after that it needed Cesar Azpilicueta at his diligent best to cut out Bournemouth’s best attack yet.
Chelsea then began to make things happen. Hazard found Moses’s overlapping run with a well-judged ball and the Blues were unlucky not to win a corner, and then David Luiz’s anticipation started an attack which ended with Pedro rifling a shot across the face of goal. The man from Tenerife did not have to wait long to hit the target.
The Blues’ passing game clicked and unsurprisingly it was Fabregas who played a clever and crucial pass through a crowd to Pedro, whose finish was sublime. Turning onto his left foot, he clipped the ball perfectly to clear Artur Boruc but dip under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.
The goal came midway through the half but we needed Thibaut Courtois to save smartly from Wilshere soon after to preserve the lead.
The same Bournemouth player then fired on target after Matic’s soft clearance from a free-kick fell to him, but thankfully an outstretched Chelsea boot prevented another test for Courtois.
With 10 minutes to go to half-time, Hazard was dumped to the turf just outside the Bournemouth area. Willian and David Luiz stood aside for Fabregas but he chipped the free-kick onto the roof of the net.
A free-kick at the other end was the big talking point just before half-time. Not for the first time a Wilshere run caused problems but Gary Cahill and his colleagues were very upset when the defender’s tackle was ruled a foul. Thankfully Bournemouth’s attempt at goal only succeeded in bouncing off the middle of the Chelsea wall.
The league leaders had a half-time lead and were doing well in pressing and disrupting the visitors play for long spells, but we could do with more creativity ourselves to be totally confident another three points was coming our way.
Conte’s men started the second half sharply and within three minutes were given a big help towards our win by Bournemouth skipper Simon Francis. His clumsy attempt to challenge Hazard in the area was instantly whistled as a penalty and he had no argument.
Hazard stroked the ball low into the net with Boruc wrong-footed. It was 2-0 with 49 minutes played.
It was all Chelsea now. Hazard cut inside from the left but misdirected his shot, and Willian twice struck the ball at Boruc from the right. Moses hit a bouncing ball only just wide with an hour almost up.
Pedro picked up a yellow card that means he will be banned for the Stoke game, and he further demonstrated we will be without an in-form player for that New Year’s Eve game with a thrilling run and shot just wide.
He and Hazard threatened more goals on the break although there was a warning the job was not yet done when substitute Benik Afobe got behind our defence and forced Courtois into a good save.
The Blues kept the ball and probed away for the remainder of the game and were rewarded with goal number three and our best winning margin since Everton were beaten here 5-0 at the start of November. Pedro, on the break once again, shot low from distance with his right this time and fortune was with him as it took a touch off a Bournemouth player to give Boruc no chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment