Chelsea came three points closer to the title on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
After a midweek win over Manchester City and with Victor Moses back at his disposal, Antonio Conte lined up the Blues in their usual 3-4-3 with Thibaut Courtois between the sticks, Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Gary Cahill in front of him, Moses and Marcos Alonso at the wingback spots, N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic roaming centrally, Eden Hazard and Pedro as the inside forwards and Diego Costa as the first line of attack.
Chelsea previously beat the Cherries at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day by a score of 3-0. The final goal of that game was an own goal by Steve Cook in stoppage time at the end of the match.
Eddie Howe’s side picked up right where they left off as Chelsea’s first game came via an own goal by Adam Smith in the 17th minute. Diego Costa received the ball near the penalty spot, turned and fired a shot that looked to be heading miles high and wide before taking a deflection off Smith and finding the back of the net.
The Blues went 2-0 up three minutes later after a Cesc Fabregas-esque pass from Kante found Hazard in behind. Hazard dashed in, faked right and comfortably slid the ball past Artur Boruc.
The Cherries cut into Chelsea’s lead with three minutes to play before halftime, but Alonso put the game to bed with a goal from a free kick in the 68th minute.
Here’s what we learned from the win:
N'Golo Kante is evolving
Many people, myself included, have been waiting for Kante to show off his range of passing. I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t Fabregas out there when I saw the ball that Kante played to Hazard for Chelsea’s second goal! The Frenchman played in a brilliant diagonal ball that soared at least 40 yards perfectly to the feet on the goal-bound Belgian. Kante, of course, deflected the ball for the interception that led to the goal.
This is the rest of the world’s worst fear — Kante is evolving, and he’s not even in his final form.
Third time's a charm
The Spaniard put in dominant performances on both sides of the ball, including a peach of a free kick for Chelsea’s third goal. He had previously this season hit the crossbar twice from free kicks.
I said it about Hazard after the Manchester City match, and I’ll say it about Alonso after this match. His critics have nothing to say, and haven’t for weeks now.
Class is in session. Silence.
A bittersweet day for Diego
I’ll start with the bad first: his touch, again, was poor. His passing, again, was poor. His confidence, again, was poor.
This calendar year, Costa has just three League goals. Here’s a list of players that have outscored Costa in the Premier League in 2017: Troy Deeney, Joshua King, Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic, Andy Carroll, Oumar Niasse and Alfie Mawson. Oh, and Marcos Alonso.
Now, the good: he didn’t get credit for the opening goal — and rightfully so as his shot was initially going nowhere near the target before taking a deflection — but it could be what sends Diego in the right direction. He’s been dreadful to watch as of late, but confidence is key. Costa also won the free kick that led to Alonso’s goal.
15 points to go
After Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Watford, the Blues stay seven points clear at the top and have dwindled their magic number to win the Premier League to 15 points (any combination of points gained by Chelsea and points dropped by Tottenham).
That means the Blues can clinch the title by winning five of their final seven matches, even if Spurs go unbeaten throughout the remainder of the season. If the latter occurs, that means that Tottenham would end the season on a 13-match unbeaten run. Given Spurs’ injuries, and their uncanny ability to bottle it down the stretch, it’s a relatively safe bet that they’ll drop at least two points somewhere down the line.