Chelsea 3-1 Swansea: Highlights and recap
Chelsea beat Swansea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Feb. 10. Here are all the highlights from the Premier League match.
Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to 11 points Saturday with a comfortable victory over Swansea at Stamford Bridge.
The big news ahead of the match was Antonio Conte’s decision to include Cesc Fabregas in his starting XI ahead of Nemanja Matic. Conte’s barely changed his team all year, and for good reason, but his decision to give arguably his team’s best passer paid immediate dividends.
Fabregas was the Blues’ best player in the first half, dictating the tempo in midfield and opening the scoring in the 19th minute, poking the ball in after expertly controlling a Pedro cutback.
Swansea, who offered almost nothing in attack all match, found a way back into the game in first half stoppage time, when an unmarked Fernando Llorente headed home an excellent Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick.
Chelsea picked up where they left off in the second half, but there was a sense of uneasiness around Stamford Bridge as they struggled to create clearcut chances.
The breakthrough eventually came thanks to some bad Lukas Fabianski goalkeeping. Pedro, cutting in from the right, curled a low shot toward the bottom left corner. It should have been a routine save for the Swansea keeper, but he let the ball slip through his hands.
The Blues put the game beyond doubt in the 84th minute. Eden Hazard, wonderful on the dribble all match, glided past Kyle Naughton at right-back, before cutting the ball back to Diego Costa, who finished powerfully at the near post.
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Highlights
Chelsea move 11 points clear of second-place Manchester City, whose match against Manchester United this weekend was postponed for the EFL Cup final. Tottenham could cut Chelsea’s lead to 10 points when they play Stoke on Sunday. Swansea remain 15th, but the gap between them and the drop zone was cut to three points.