Chelsea vs. Everton

With zero goals conceded in the league last month and 11 goals scored, Chelsea look to make November theirs for the taking. Manager Antonio Conte chose to stick with the same side as last weekend against a shaky Everton side at Stamford Bridge. The starting lineup for Chelsea was Costa, Hazard, Pedro, Kante, Matic, Moses, Alonso, Cahill, Luiz, Azpilicueta, and Courtois between the posts. For Everton, Lukaku, Bolasie, Barkley, Cleverly, Barry, Oviedo, Funes Mori, Williams, Jagielka, and Stekelenburg start.

The start of the game was very slow and seemed more like a warm up session than an actual game. A drowsy 15 minutes passed until Chelsea began to keep possession and advance up the field. After a partial tackle made by Jagielka, the ball landed at Hazard’s feet. Hazard turned and curled one directly past Stekelenburg to the bottom right post, scoring in the past four games. To Stekelenburg’s defense, the shot somehow went past two of his defenders and Pedro made a run in front of him, blocking his view of the shot. Stekelenburg’s day got even worse after Tom Cleverley was dispossessed and Chelsea sprinted ahead on the attack, just two minutes later. The newest Chelsea transfer Alonso advanced up the field and worked his way into the box off the ball. He seemed to be in the box deeper than Diego Costa for the earlier part of the game, and that leaves the defense open to counterattacks. However, who needs to get back on defense if you score? Alonso saw daylight off the cross and finished with his first goal in the league, nutmegging Stekelenburg. All jokes aside, it was only a matter of time before the top goal scorer had his mark. In the 41st minute, Diego basically passed it into the net with ease after a corner was flicked on past Ashley Williams. Halftime came with Chelsea up 3-0.

The second half was quite the ending to a blowout as the goals kept coming from Chelsea. After a string of about 20 passes made by the Chelsea midfield, Hazard flicked the ball onto Diego Costa, who back heeled the ball in front of Hazard. The oohs and ahs turned into roars as Hazard cut inside and shot so quickly Stekelenburg had no time to react, standing bewildered at his defense. To put this into perspective, Stekelenburg was the inform keeper of the week for Everton last weekend, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be there this week. The Barcelona winger had two assists already this game, and looked to score to put the icing on the cake. Pedro indeed scored after an eager Hazard tried to complete his hattrick when the ball fell right at Pedro’s feet off the rebound. This capped off a wonderful outing by Chelsea as they won 5-0 against Everton. Hopefully this form will continue to blossom in the new season and next weekend they will be facing Middlesbrough.