Chelsea are top of the Premier League, and in rather impressive fashion. They struggled to get going early against Swansea City, but Diego Costa eventually came alive, notching a hat trick in a span of less than 25 minutes to help Chelsea to a 4-2 win.
Chelsea vs. Swansea City final score: 3 things we learned from the Blues’ 4-2 win
Paul Gilham
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The Swans stunned Chelsea early with an 11th minute goal, and one that could have been avoided. Wayne Routledge served in a very good square ball from the left flank, and it wasn't dealt with well at all. John Terry probably could have let the ball run to Cesar Azpilicueta, who was in a good spot to clear, but he made a diving lunge for the ball and poked it into his own goal.
Swansea kept the pressure on immediately afterwards, with Bafetimbi Gomis and Routledge both missing impressive efforts just wide before the 20 minute mark. They looked more likely to score another than concede for most of the half, but Costa got Chelsea back into the game just before the break.
His first goal came off a corner, and it took some impressive strength. He was well marked, but held off his defender and powered a header past Lukasz Fabianski. From there, the game belonged to him and Chelsea
Costa scored his second in the 56th minute, finishing off a brilliant give-and-go between Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard, ending with a squared pass by Fabregas. Another 12 minutes after that, the Spaniard completed his hat trick, making a perfect run to get on the end of a through ball by Ramires and poke into the back of the net.
With his team two goals up, Jose Mourinho opted to give Costa a curtain call and and hand a debut to Loic Remy, who added to Chelsea's tally with a goal of his own in the 81st minute, with Oscar picking up the assist.
Jonjo Shelvey added a goal at the end for Swansea, but it was ultimately inconsequential, and Chelsea held on without issue.
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Ivanovic, Matic, Fabregas (Salah 82’), Hazard, Oscar, Schürrle (Ramires 46’), Costa (Remy 72’)
Goals: Costa (45’, 56’, 68’), Remy (81’)
Swansea: Fabianski, Taylor, Williams, Amat (Fernandez 46’), Rangel, Ki, Shelvey, Routledge (Montero 65’), Sigurdsson, Dyer, Gomis (Bony 76’)
Goals: Terry (OG 11’), Shelvey (87’)
3 things
1. Diego Costa is an absolute terror
We didn’t learn that Diego Costa is good, or even great, but this game might have been a glimpse into the downright destructive path he’s about to carve out. His hat trick was entirely the product of being in perfect positions and overpowering defenders, something that’s pretty clearly repeatable. There’s been no luck involved in his goals and no jaw-dropping bombs so far. Just the kind of stuff that we expected from him ... only more.
It’s not too early to start wondering if he can chase down Luis Suarez’s goal total from last season. If Oscar, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas all stay fit, he’s going to get good chances in a higher volume than perhaps any striker ever, and it’s quite obvious he can finish them.
2. Chelsea still have some work to do defensively
Jose Mourinho was very displeased with his team in their last game, despite their three-goal margin of victory. Chelsea were poor defensively, conceding three goals to Everton, and they switched off a couple of times against Swansea as well. Something's not quite clicking with the midfield and back four. The good news for Chelsea is that Mourinho usually sorts out defensive issues quickly.
3. Swansea are a very good team
Yes, they lost, but Swansea held their own for 55 minutes at Stamford Bridge and scored twice. Coming off their previous results, this is pretty encouraging. They’ll like their chances to finish top half this season.
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