After an early scare, Eden Hazard’s hat-trick, as well as a stunning strike from substitute Willian, saw Chelsea rack up a comprehensive 4-1 scoreline when in reality they were tested for large periods of the game by a winless Cardiff City team.
Defensively Chelsea has struggled to adapt to a four at the back formation and poor communication and awareness have seen them at times leak goals. This was no different today as in the first-half especially Cardiff were allowed to test the Blues from set piece scenarios and crosses into the area, eventually falling behind in the 16th minute from a Sol Bamba volley in the six-yard box.
Neil Etheridge thought he’d done enough to see his side go in at the break a goal ahead, denying Mateo Kovacic and Eden Hazard expertly, but a blistering seven minutes from the Belgian playmaker turned the game on its head as his two goals gave Chelsea the lead for the first time in the game. His first goal was a superb drilled effort out of the reach of the Philippeno goalkeeper before his second effort took a huge deflection off of Bamba to wrong-foot Etheridge and send Chelsea ahead.
The second-half was far more conservative from Chelsea as they looked to preserve their 100% winning record under Maurizio Sarri, but two goals in the space of four minutes left Cardiff bereft of ideas. Substitute Willian was integral in both goals, first winning the penalty with which Hazard completed only the second hat-trick of his Chelsea career, before curling the ball into the top corner from just outside the area dater the ball broke fortuitously to him.
Chelsea now tops the table on 15 points with a superior goal difference to Liverpool, who won away at Tottenham in the early kickoff.
