Alvaro Morata scored a classy hat-trick as
Chelsea made short work of beating Stoke 4-0 win to keep up the pressure on the
Premier League leaders on Saturday.
Since
Diego Costa finally securing his move back to Atletico Madrid on Thursday,
there are no more unwanted distractions at Chelsea regarding the combustible
centre-forward.
Pedro also scored for Antonio Conte’s side,
who remained just three points off the top of the table with their title
defence gathering steam.
But
it also means Morata is the undisputed No. 9 at Stamford Bridge and the club's
success, or otherwise, will largely be down to how many goals he scores.
He arrived at Chelsea as second choice after top target Romelu Lukaku chose instead to join Manchester United -- United had been expected to sign Morata until they were told they could win the race for Lukaku.
They brushed aside an under-strength Potters
side, who paid for some costly defensive errors as Morata scored early and then
twice late on to take his season’s tally to seven goals in six games for club
and country.
Having scored his first three goals for his
new club with his head, the £60 million ($81 million, 68 million euros) signing
from Real Madrid netted all three goals with his feet in the Potteries and he
might have added to his total from two late chances.
His
first two goals at Stoke were those of a striker brimming with confidence, two
classy finishes having broken behind the defence. The hat trick goal was a
typical centre-forward's effort, with a predatory tap-in from 6 yards.
It was a chastening afternoon for Stoke, who
went into the game with just one senior centre-back available in Bruno Martins
Indi.
Chelsea led after just 81 seconds as Stoke’s
makeshift back three were undone by a straightforward long pass.
It was played from the Chelsea defence by
Cesar Azpilicueta and collected by Morata after a simple run between Glen
Johnson and Bruno Martins Indi. He composed himself before beating Jack Butland
low to his left.
The former Manchester United man tried to
chest down a high header from Erik Pieters but only succeeded in guiding it
into the path of Pedro, who skipped away from Martins Indi and rifled a superb,
right-footed shot past Butland for his first league goal of the season.
Stoke went close two minutes before the break
when Joe Allen found space wide on the right and crossed for Mame Diouf, who
sent an overhead kick just wide at the far post.
Conte
made a crucial intervention early in the second half to save Marcos Alonso from
what appeared to be an inevitable sending off at the bet365 Stadium.
The
Spanish wing-back had been booked for a foul on Joe Allen before then
committing a reckless foul on Stoke forward Mame Diouf less than two minutes
later.
With
the home crowd incensed and demanding action, referee Mike Dean showed leniency
by sparing Alonso from a second booking, instead choosing to warn the player he
was walking a tightrope and that the next foul would result in a red card.
Alonso
could have had no complaints had he been shown a second yellow, but Conte was
not prepared to take any chances with Chelsea due to face Manchester City at
Stamford Bridge next Saturday.
With
David Luiz already ruled out of that game due to a three-match ban following
his red card against Arsenal last week, the risk of losing Alonso as well was
too great for Conte to contemplate.
Alonso
is crucial to Chelsea's game plan and Conte has no credible alternative, so his
decision to replace him with Gary Cahill on the hour snuffed out the
possibility of Alonso picking up another card and a costly suspension.
Still,
Alonso almost fell afoul of Dean seconds before being replaced, with the
defender foolishly taking a throw-in when the referee had already signalled it
as a Stoke ball.
Alonso
got away with it again, but he can thank his manager for saving him from bigger
trouble.
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