Chelsea put on a fine display on Saturday to brush Stoke City aside, and rack up their fourth win out of six. Chief among the most outstanding performers was Alvaro Morata who finally scored with his feet.
For most of the campaign, the striker had come under scrutiny not because of his lack of goals but how he scored the goals. Morata was criticized by some for his inability to score with his feet. Prior to Saturday, he’d only scored three goals, and they were all with his head. So people were becoming increasingly concerned about that, including Hazard, who made light of the situation during an interview some weeks ago. Well, he, and other fans would have been thrilled to see Morata score the traditional way today from goal one to last.
Cesc Fabregas was also impressive after coming off for the change and helped Chelsea control and manage the game with his intelligence and passing. Andreas Christensen, in place of the suspended David Luiz, did a good job in defence while Cesar Azpilicueta could easily have been the Man of the Match if Morata hadn’t scored a hat trick.
Morata was unsurprisingly crowned the ‘Man of the match’ after his heroics, but it wasn’t an entirely happy evening for every Chelsea player.
Willian has had his high moments for Chelsea, as much as he’s had his lows— Saturday evening was one of those days. He seemed totally off rhythm, and couldn’t hold on to possession enough. His passes were wasteful, and his penchant for dribbling often landed him in trouble. It was a messy night for him, and I can’t help but imagine what might have happened if Stoke were swapped with Man City. For that, I think he deserves to get some major thumbs down.
Other than Willian and maybe Marcos Alonso who almost got a red, every Chelsea player was impressive. Now, we have to look ahead with two big fixtures coming our way in Atletico Madrid and Man City. If we play anywhere close to Saturday, we won’t have a problem winning those games.
