Stoke fans exit early after youth policy lets Chelsea run riot
This game was not summed up by anything that happened on the pitch but the sight simply of Stoke City fans making their way to the Stamford Bridge exit after only 24 minutes. Their team were already 3-0 down and prematch fears that Mark Hughes had largely sacrificed this game in favour of the New Year’s Day fixture against Newcastle United felt vindicated.
Six changes had been made from the Stoke team that drew at Huddersfield on Boxing Day and, with their two 18-year-old full-backs at least partially at fault for the first, third and fifth goals, what became an exercise in damage limitation ultimately petered out into one of the Premier League’s most uncompetitive fixtures of the season.
“What we had defensively was what you saw but I made decisions that I thought would help us on Monday,” admitted Hughes.
The shots tally in Chelsea’s favour of 21-1 told its own story and was a sweet ending to the year for Antonio Conte. “To win the Premier League title is not easy and I will remember 2017 for ever,” said the manager.
Such a mismatch, though, showed that with the exception of Burnley the gap between the “big six” and the rest of the league does seem to have widened. Some imbalance in the fixture calendar is also unavoidable but the festive schedule does seem unusually distorted this year.
The advantage Chelsea had in playing against Arsenal on Wednesday more than 50 hours after Stoke host Newcastle certainly influenced this game. Yes, Conte did rest Eden Hazard but was otherwise confident in playing more first-team regulars in the knowledge that he does not have to deal with the same 48-hour turnaround.
With that evidently in mind, Hughes left out Joe Allen, Eric Maxim ChoupoMoting, Xherdan Shaqiri and Peter Crouch. Chelsea’s dominance was soon established amid a rare start together in central midfield of N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater.
A free-kick was quickly won from which Willian floated in a cross and, with Tom Edwards not seriously contesting the header, Antonio Rudiger directed the ball beyond Jack Butland.
“We showed great desire – if you begin well, the game can become easy,” Conte later said. He was right. A Pedro cross was then deflected to the edge of the penalty area to Drinkwater, who brought the ball under control before producing a superb top-corner finish.
More chances quickly followed, with Butland blocking Alvaro Morata’s shot after Pedro dissected Stoke’s defence. The ex-Barcelona forward effectively ended the match at only the midway point of the first half. Pedro had been fed by Willian and then effortlessly turned Josh Tymon before curling his shot beyond Butland. Stoke had barely threatened but did almost bring some token respectability to the scoreline.
First Mame Biram Diouf broke clear after being played onside by Gary Cahill only for his ‘goal’ to be cancelled out for a marginal handball. Then Sadio Berahino had a wonderful chance to end what is now an extraordinary 37game and near-two-year wait for a goal. He was clear one on one with Thibaut Courtois but the attempt to place rather than power his finish gave the Chelsea goalkeeper just enough time to make a diving save.
The home side dropped down several gears in the second half but, after Morata had missed two chances, they did then further extend their lead.
Willian surged into the penalty area and, after being upended by Geoff Cameron, got up to finish past Butland. Davide Zappacosta then collected a clearance from Tymon and smashed a fine left-footed finish past Butland. Chelsea are on a run of 26 points from a possible 33, which would make them title contenders in just about any other season, while Stoke – who sit two points above the relegation zone with the worst goal difference in the division – must vindicate the selection decisions against Newcastle tomorrow.
“The landscape of the game changes completely,” said Hughes. “If we get the win, this Christmas would be a good return.”