Chelsea dominated and came from a goal down to win 4-1 over Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge.
It was Cardiff who seemed the more dominant side surprisingly in the opening 15 minutes after their manager promised not to sit back and park the bus against Chelsea. This proved true when Sean Morrison headed the ball onto the middle of the Chelsea box and Sol Bamba leapt and right footed the ball into the back of the net to give Cardiff the lead at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea immediately came inches from equalizing twice within seconds, both coming through attempts by Mateo Kovacic, but both attempts saw brilliant saves by keeper Neil Etheridge.
Chelsea after conceding the opener seemed to have been rudely awakened and was asserting their dominance with Pedro the next up with a curling shot from the edge of the box which went just inches wide of the target before Pedro once again took a shot on the edge of the box, but again just over.
Chelsea finally equalized after a brilliant one two passing play between Eden Hazard and Oliver Giroud, before Hazard struck the shot on the edge of the box and beautifully found the bottom corner perfectly to equalize the game.
The Giroud and Hazard combo struck again beautifully when Giroud made a brilliant touch to ensure Hazard found the ball inside a crowded box which Hazard struck brilliantly finding a slight deflection to the back of the net, giving Chelsea the lead.
Half Time: Chelsea 2 – 1 Cardiff City
Chelsea continued their superiority on the field dominating possession with 75% at the hour mark and having 13 shots. The last of which once again came through Pedro, but yet again was agonizingly wide.
The 80th minute saw drama when Cardiff’s hero of the first half Sol Bamba made a reckless challenge inside his own box and brought down WIllian, causing the referee to point straight to the spot. Hazard stepped up and brilliantly outwitted the keeper as he coolly slotted the ball to the right corner, sending the keeper the wrong way to complete his second ever Chelsea hat-trick.
This almost immediately followed with an absolutely blinder of a goal by Willian who had come on in the 68th minute, got the ball outside the box and took a powerful strike that dipped just under the crossbar to increase Chelsea’s advantage.
Full Time: Chelsea 4 – 1 Cardiff City
Goal Scorers
Chelsea – Eden Hazard 37′, 44’, 80’ (pen), Willian 83’
Cardiff City – Sol Bamba 16’
Other Matches
Bournemouth v Leicester
Bournemouth and Leicester put up a 6 goal game where The Cherries came out on top 4-2 winners with Ryan Fraser scoring a brace while Joshua King and Adam Smith scored one each. Leicester were struggling for majority of the match and their problems got worse when Captain Wes Morgan was shown a second yellow and sent off. Leicester had a late surge scoring 2 goals in the 88th & 89th minute through James Maddison and Marc Albrighton, but it was too little too late.
Huddersfield v Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace came out winners in a 1-0 victory where Wilfred Zaha who returned from a short term injury proved his worth by scoring the only goal of the game in the 38th minute, assisted by Jordan Ayew.
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