In one of the stranger performances of the 2014-15 campaign. Chelsea secured three points to maintain its six-point cushion atop the Premier League with a 3-2 victory over Hull City at the KC Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Chelsea opened with a blitzkrieg that produced two goals before the 10-minute mark of the first half, with Eden Hazard netting a brilliant goal on a left-footed strike from the top of the box and Diego Costa notching his 19th goal of the season just minutes later with a lovely curler across the face of goal. Here are four takeaways from the match.
Chelsea Continue to Look Strangely Different from a Classic Mourinho Team
José Mourinho sides historically have been almost unbeatable when they score. With Mourinho’s brilliant defensive tactics, his teams usually have an unmatched ability to hold a one-goal lead and kill off a game. That has not been the case at all this season, and the trend continued at the KC Stadium on Sunday. After a lightning quick start out of the gates that saw Chelsea net two brilliant goals in the first eight minutes of the match, the Blues once again seemed unable to cope with the advantage and things quickly swung back toward Hull City’s favour.
Hull scored twice in a span of just 73 seconds to level the game before the half, and it was due in large part to a comedy of errors from the Chelsea defence. The right side of the back line was getting abused by Hull, with Branislav Ivanović and Gary Cahill looking completely out of sorts. Ivanović in particular looked like a shadow of himself, committing errors that led directly to both Hull goals, including an awful back pass to Thibaut Courtois that was mishandled and slotted home with ease by Abel Hernandez.
It was the 12th time this season that Chelsea have scored first only to concede an equaliser, and even more shockingly it was the second time that the Blues have bottled a 2-0 lead, the first coming against Bradford City in Chelsea’s unceremonious exit from the FA Cup. It is an issue that has plagued Chelsea all season long and, although the Blues remain atop the table, it’s the reason that they don’t already have the league title completely sealed.
For all the deserved criticism today’s performance warranted, though, the Blues did clamp down following Loïc Rémy’s go-ahead goal in the 77th minute. Kurt Zouma came on in relief of Willian and duly imposed himself in the double pivot next to Nemanja Matić to see out the rest of the match and secure three points.
Super Sub Loïc Rémy Provides Winner for Chelsea
Although Loïc Rémy has had to bide his time on the bench behind the Premier League’s leading scorer for much of the season, the Frenchman has been largely brilliant when he has been on the pitch. After Chelsea coughed away an early 2-0 advantage, it was Rémy who came on in the 75th minute for Costa and wasted no time in slotting home the winner.
The Blues had spent much of the second half up to that point controlling possession in the attacking third and, despite winning a handful of corners, had been unable to produce a go-ahead score. Rémy did very well to position himself in front of goal and, following a nice bit of build up play that included Ivanović, Cesc Fàbregas and Willian, managed to put the ball past Hull keeper Allan McGregor.
Rémy now has four Premier League goals this season and has netted six in all competitions for the Blues, providing a very reliable backup to Costa at centre forward in addition to the contributions that the Blues have received from veteran Didier Drogba.
Hazard’s Brilliant Ascension Continues
Eden Hazard has been one of the best young players in world football for some time now, and this season we have seen the 24-year-old Belgian shine even brighter as he reaches world class heights with his game. His opening goal was a beautiful display of skill, as he took a nice touch from Costa and used his trademark dribbling and quickness to make a dangerous run at the Hull City box. With two defenders on him and a keeper to beat, Hazard ripped a shot across goal into the upper right corner of the net with his left foot, and Chelsea were off and running.
Hazard was influential in the center of the field throughout the match, completing 34 passes in the attacking third, which was second only to Fàbregas (35) for the match. Eden completed three take-ons on the day, and he now has 16 goals and eight assists in all competitions, including 11 goals in league play. The only criticism of Hazard’s game has been that he seems a bit gun shy at times, preferring to make the extra pass and perhaps over-think a bit when he gets in on goal. That was not an issue today, as the budding superstar did not pass up the opportunity to strike from distance and put the Blues on the board first in impressive fashion.
Courtois impressive between the sticks
Despite a critical mistake on Hull’s second goal, in which Courtois mishandled a backwards pass from Ivanović that led to an easy goal for Hernandez, the big Belgian played a massive role in Chelsea’s victory, making a slew of big saves.
His first big stop came in the fifth minute when Hernandez got in behind the Chelsea defence and found himself in a 1-v-1 situation with Courtois. Thibaut thwarted the shot, deflecting it off his chest after staying big, not committing in either direction and forcing Hernandez to produce a special effort in order to score, which he was unable to do. The most impressive sequence of the match for Courtois came in the 64th minute, when he was bombarded on three consecutive occasions and turned away all three strikes with a triple-save. In a span of seconds, Courtois turned away blasts from Ahmed Elmohamady, Hernandez and Gaston Ramirez to keep the game deadlocked at 2-2 and keep Chelsea in position to find a winner.
Thibaut was great in goal outside of his one blunder, and without several of his fantastic efforts, Chelsea may not have escaped the KC Stadium with all three points.
