Hull City vs. Chelsea 2015 results: Blues win 3-2 despite errors

Chelsea have solidified their standing at the top of the table, though they certainly made life hard for themselves on Sunday. They threw away a two-goal lead against Hull City, but fought back in the second half to snatch a 3-2 victory.

The Blues were up by two goals inside the first 10 minutes and looked like they’d cruise to a very easy victory. Eden Hazard’s second minute opener was an absolute stunner, scored with a powerful strike from 20 yards out. Seven minutes after that, Diego Costa scored an equally impressive goal, curling a shot just inside the far post off a narrow angle shot from inside the box.

But somewhat surprisingly, Hull fought back. Dame N’Doye forced Thibaut Courtois into an excellent save off a 14th minute free kick, and the Tigers got one back not long afterwards. Andrew Robertson set up his team’s 26th minute goal with a precise cross towards the back post, and his opposite wingback Ahmed Elmohamady slid in to apply the finish.

It was a surprising goal, but Chelsea were in for an even bigger shock two minutes later when Courtois gifted the hosts an equalizer. Branislav Ivanovic played him an ill-advised back pass, but Courtois still should have been able to clear easily. Instead, he tried to get tricky and failed miserably, touching the ball right to Abel Hernandez, who passed the ball into an empty net.

The second half started fairly evenly, and Hull would have scored in the 64th minute, if not for some spectacular heroics by Courtois. He saved a shot by Elmohamady, then an even better follow-up by Jake Livermore, then made it a triple with the best stop of the bunch, tipping Gaston Ramirez’s effort over the bar for his third save in five seconds.

Chelsea brought Loic Remy into the game in the 75th minute, and he made an immediate impact, scoring the winning goal with his first touch of the game. While Willian’s pass to Remy was a good one and the Frenchman got his shot on target, the goal was, sadly, mostly about Allan McGregor’s mistake. Remy’s shot was right at him and lacking power, but McGregor somehow let it slip by.

From there, Hull didn’t look like they had much of a way back. Jose Mourinho put on Kurt Zouma to play as a defensive midfielder, and that helped to shut the game down.

Goals: Elmohamady (26’), Hernandez (28’)

Goals: Hazard (2’), Costa (9’), Remy (77’)