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MOTD: Chelsea 4-2 Swansea City

By on September 13, 2014

England manager Roy Hodgson was watching from the stands tonight, but by the end he was probably wistfully wishing he could be the manager of the Spanish national team. Just eleven minutes in one of the two English players in Chelsea’s squad, John Terry, had put Swansea City in front via an own goal. Then, right on the brink of the half, Spanish international Cesc Fabregas whipped in a corner which his fellow Spaniard Diego Costa headed home. On the other side of halftime Fabregas and Costa combined once again to turn it around, before Costa scored his hat-trick to put Chelsea 3-1 up. Costa, Fabregas, and Chelsea were quite dominant, to say the least.

It was a wonder how they ever went down. For the most part, is was luck that John Terry, in attempt to clear Neil Taylor’s low cross poked it into the back of his own net. Both sides had start brightly, and Wayne Routledge had come close with a volley that drifted just over the crossbar, however, it was hardly a deserved lead. Routledge again came close twenty minutes in, seeing his low effort fly inches wide of the post, but for long periods of play Chelsea would be pegging Swansea back. In attack, Fabregas would break off from his very defensive hold and, as well as occasionally combine with the other midfielders and break into the Swansea box, spread play as well as use his vision to often make deadly passes.

Yet is was none of those which proved to be how he made his first assist of the match, instead, it was his in-swinging corner which Costa headed home after muscling off all defenders. This goal just goes to show how Jose Mourinho has done brilliantly in combining physical prowess and creativity in his team, and 4-2-3-1 formation – just on the other side of the half Chelsea scored a goal after incredible combination play to break down Swansea’s defense. After combining with Hazard, Fabregas was slipped in down the left side of Swansea’s box via a short, perfectly weighted through ball from the Belgian, and in turn cut it back to Costa, who tucked a neat finish home from six yards.

It would have taken a brave man to bet against Chelsea going ahead and finishing Swansea off, for The Blues had their opponents completely pegged back. If it weren’t for Lukasz Fabianski’s quick reflexes Hazard would have given Chelsea a third, but in the end it turned out to be Costa to complete his hat-trick, latching onto Ramires’ mis-hit shot and clinically finishing sixty-seven minutes in.

In the end, Chelsea substitute Loic Remy made it a perfect game for Chelsea by scoring on his debut for The Blues, sliding a low daisycutter into the bottom right corner. Costa had already come off and Fabregas was to do so a few minutes after Remy’s goal, both to their deserved standing ovations. The fact that Jonjo Shelvey nicked in behind the Swansea defense and scored a late consolation goal hardly mattered – Chelsea had already sealed the three points, which take them further almost every one of their title rivals.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.