Match review: Brighton sent begging by Chelsea after Hazard brace
Brighton goes down by four goals on home soil after Hazard leads Chelsea to victory and a spell back in third place. Antonio Conte, a happy man on the sideline after his side found the net on several occasions .
The worry of missing key figures, Alvaro Morata and Pedro, was not on display. From the kickoff of the match – Hazard was hassling the home side and was at the point of of every attack launched by Chelsea.
A few minutes into the game, three to be exact – and the potent Belgian was on the scoresheet. This was an important goal for the travelling squad – they’ve never lost a game this season, after scoring first in a match.
Move on a few minutes and Chelsea put together something special. Three minutes after scoring their first, all three front men of the Blues – pieced together great interplay, capped off by a Willian strike, which complemented the move completely. Simply, football at its best.
Controversy set out in this one again – after Brighton started peppering Willy Caballero’s goal mouth. The Chelsea keeper made a mess of air balls – but did well when called into action with save after save.
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Brighton 0-4 Chelsea match stats:
Brighton | Stat | Chelsea |
| 0 | Goals | 4 |
| 42% | Possession | 58% |
| 79% | Pass Accuracy | 86% |
| 10 | Total Shots | 14 |
| 3 | Shots on Target | 10 |
| 5 | Corners | 3 |
| 11 | Tackles | 12 |
| 4 | Offsides | 0 |
| 12 | Fouls | 5 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
Amazing that Brighton never got a goal in the game. At set-pieces and anything thrown into the box – the visitors were all over the show. Conte’s men gave the impression, they were unable to deal with any ball launched into the box. But Conte’s men stood firm and luckily, did not concede a goal.
Chelsea remained two goals up at the half time break – after no penalties were awarded for the problems caused at the back by Chelsea. At least one of the two penalty shouts, looked a sure penalty and I’m pretty sure the VAR system would’ve overturned one of the referee’s decision.
The second half action:
Once the whistle blew for the the second half to start, Chris Hughton’s men got on the front foot, trying harder to get the ball into Chelsea’s half and convert one or two of their chances. Unfortunately, clinical finishing on the day was the upperhand of the one team, and the demise of the other.
Hazard’s second goal was a great sequel to his first – but it was just a show of how the Belgian was on top of his game, in Saturday’s fixture. He tucked away a shot neatly into the bottom left corner, to finish off a great run from outside the box.
It was a one man show – and that show was the, Eden Hazard show!
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The game was killed off by a Victor Moses strike after a well-directed lob pass into the box. The defence was caught napping, and Moses was clinical like his mates on the day. It was the perfect way to end a great performance by the ex=champs.