The gap between Huddersfield and Chelsea was evident from Andre Marriner’s first whistle as a match-winning performance from Willian secured an impressive victory at the John Smith’s Stadium. His goal and two assists earned the Blues a 3-1 win with some of the fringe players enjoying a runout after a comfortable start.
The first half was like a stroll through the Yorkshire Dales for Chelsea as they enjoyed 66% possession against David Wagner’s unambitious outfit. Pedro netted after just a few minutes but his precise near-post finish was chalked off by the referee for offside. Eden Hazard couldn’t latch onto a long ball from Cesar Azpilicueta put the pressure on the Huddersfield back line was increasing as Chelsea tightened their grip on proceedings.
Their early dominance was without reward until the 23rd minute when Jonas Lossl’s clearance was gobbled up by the Chelsea midfield which fed Willian in the number 10 position. He played a cute through ball into Tiemoue Bakayoko’s path and the Frenchman, who has come under some criticism of late, chipped the ball over the onrushing Lossl and Chris Lowe helped it into the goal. The game lulled towards half time but it was virtually over by the whistle as Willian headed Marcos Alonso’s cross down and into the Terriers’ net.
Normal service was resumed after the break when Huddersfield couldn’t deal with another Alonso cross and Willian poked back towards Pedro who’d taken up a clever position on the penalty spot. The Spaniard had so much space that he could place his shot with pace and power into the top right corner of Lossl’s goal. In the other goal, Thibaut Courtois was called into action for the first time as Tom Ince burst past the Chelsea defence and the big Belgian closed the angle down quickly and blocked Ince’s shot with his shoulder and Andreas Christensen cleaned up the leftovers.
It hasn’t been the greatest season thus far for Willian but his form has started to improve in the last few weeks and he ran the show in this game. Another player who would’ve been lacking confidence after a couple of poor performances recently was Tiemoue Bakayoko and the marauding midfielder certainly showed glimpses during this 90 minutes as to why Chelsea paid £40m for his services in the summer.
After yet another backheel, this time to Pedro who shot wide, Eden Hazard’s night was up as he was given a well-deserved rest and was replaced by Michy Batshuayi for the last 25 minutes. Even without contributing directly to a goal, Hazard was superb and merited the applause from all four sides of the ground he received as he made his way off the pitch.
Danny Drinkwater was the next Chelsea substitute to be utilised by Antonio Conte as he came on for his former Leicester teammate N’Golo Kante. He enjoyed plenty of the ball with the Blues controlling the game, reducing their opponents to crosses from deep and wild long-shots. Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso continued to find space down each wing but none of their crosses were dangerous enough to produce any more goals. Another positive on the night was 17-year-old Ethan Ampadu making his Premier League debut when he came on for Andreas Christensen with 10 minutes to go.
As the ground emptied and the clocked ticked down, Antonio Conte could relax knowing that the three goals his team had scored had earned them all three points in their most straightforward Premier League game of the season. Even Laurent Depoitre’s late header couldn’t put a downer on the excellent performance but I’m sure Thibaut Courtois won’t be best pleased to lose his clean sheet in the last kick of the game.