wonder Small
Eden shows Chelsea it’s not always about size
CHELSEA have sent for a giant but this attack will always be at its best when the ball finds their little man of wonders. What a glorious mess Eden Hazard made of Brighton.
He was truly exceptional, a 5ft 7in tornado that swirled into town and left Chris Hughton shaking his head at the carnage of it all. What else can a manager do when such a talent is in such a vicious mood?
There were his two goals, in the third and 77th minutes, each excellent in its execution. There was also his backheel contribution to Willian’s strike three minutes after the opener, which might rank as the best team goal of the season.
Magnificent stuff even before you factor in the single dummy that threw three Brighton players off balance and his numerous other collaborations with Willian, his partner in a quite thrilling series of crimes. Neither man is taller than 6ft; each landed heavyweight blows on a team that usually looks extremely robust at this ground.
Whatever can be offered by the big new striker that Antonio Conte has requested — the rather left-field list put forward to him by the club has included Edin Dzeko, Christian Benteke, Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch — they won’t play with anything like the same razzmatazz.
Of course, that is not to denigrate the idea of a Plan B as a bad one, because it does make sense. Michy Batshuayi has been poor as a target man, even if this was one of his better games, and the suspended Alvaro Morata is horribly out of form. When nothing is working, they need something new to turn to and a big man would offer variety.
But there is also no denying how wonderful Chelsea look going forward when Plan A is going well and this game was an example of that. Indeed, when they attack as well as they did here, why would you ever want the ball to leave the ground?
That is not to say their first win in six matches in all competitions was easy — Chelsea’s backline was often poor and Brighton were always game. If the hosts had more luck with the officiating, then who knows, because they were robbed of a penalty when Willy Caballero tripped Ezequiel Schelotto on 15 minutes. A VAR would not have missed the obvious.
A second appeal by Schelotto 20 minutes later against Tiemoue Bakayoko was also waved off, leaving a bad taste in Hughton’s mouth. ‘I was probably more disappointed with the first but I thought they were both penalties,’ he said.
Neither was given and so Chelsea regain their footing in the fight for the top four and quell some of the unease that tends to spread at this club. Conte was defensive of his side’s form afterwards, pointing to a 12-game unbeaten run, even if his statistics were a little out. When asked if the club had been in ‘crisis’, the Italian said: ‘Whoever said this has to pay attention to the stats. We’re unbeaten in 14 games. It’s normal that the press try to see the negative aspect and don’t see the positives. But this team, with many problems, are unbeaten in 14 games in every competition.
‘This means we are performing important work despite five players out: Cesc Fabregas, Danny Drinkwater, (Thibaut) Courtois, two suspensions in Pedro and Morata. Despite this, we won 4-0.’
Against the backdrop of Chelsea’s injuries and suspensions, this was an impressive result. Even more so considering the holes in the defence, underpinned by Caballero, who repeatedly mishandled high balls.
Their first goal came on three minutes, with Hazard in the right place to tuck away a Victor Moses cross that had been deflected his way by Dale Stephens.
But the second — now that was something. All Brighton did wrong was give in to a little pressure, with Lewis Dunk playing carelessly near the halfway line. Ordinarily, they might have been fine given the traffic in Chelsea’s path to goal, but the burst from Willian and two backheels in sequence by Hazard and Batshuayi saw to that.
In a blink, that rotation of onetouch passes had cut Brighton apart and put Willian in possession just inside the area. He lashed his shot into the top corner. Beautiful.
Brighton were denied their penalty appeals and also caused serious scares when Tomer Hemed had a header saved and Davy Propper hit the bar.
Chance creation wasn’t a problem but conversion has been a recurring issue, so the hope is that Jurgen Locadia, their new signing from PSV Eindhoven, will improve productivity. Without goals, they were further picked apart by Hazard, whose run and strike for Chelsea’s third was a delight.
Moses buried the fourth after a lovely ball over the top by Charly Musonda.
Not bad from a side looking to revamp their attack.