Chelsea fire eight past hapless Villa
Chelsea 8 Aston Villa 0:Chelsea will sit third in the Premier League at Christmas after smashing sorry Aston Villa for eight unanswered goals in a farcically one-sided encounter at Stamford Bridge.
Fernando Torres’s power header got the ball rolling for Rafael Benitez’s men inside three minutes before a stunning free-kick by David Luiz and a Branislav Ivanovic header had the points in the bag by the break.
Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan did his best to limit the damage with a string of fine saves in the second half, but he could not keep out Frank Lampard’s stinging long-range effort and then suffered the ignominy of Ramires slotting a fifth between his legs.
Oscar made it six from the spot in the 79th minute and there was still time for Eden Hazard to become the seventh different goalscorer when he lashed home, while Ramires made it eight at the death as Paul Lambert’s men were brought back to earth with a bump following last week’s impressive win at Liverpool.
After Benitez’s reign began in low-key fashion with goalless stalemates against Manchester City and Fulham, the European champions have since averaged more than three goals a game after netting 26 times in seven matches in all competitions.
Chelsea’s performance also marked the first time seven different players had scored for the same team in a single Premier League match.
The Blues shrugged off the disappointment of losing the Club World Cup final to Corinthians a week ago with a 5-1 drubbing of Leeds in the Capital One Cup in midweek, and they started with their tails up today and soon took the lead through Torres.
Cesar Azpilicueta created the opportunity, his cross from the right finding his fellow Spaniard who still had much to do from 16 yards, but generated enough power on his header to beat Guzan.
The threat of Villa’s Christian Benteke was much discussed ahead of the match after his two goals and superb assist for Andreas Weimann in the win over Liverpool, and the Belgium international was the focal point in the visitors’ search for an equaliser.
Yet it was the hosts who continued to control proceedings and, with 29 minutes gone, they added a sublime second through Luiz, who was again revelling in the midfield role he first graduated to at the Club World Cup.
Hazard led a swift counter-attack to win a free-kick on the edge of the box, and Luiz produced a free-kick to rival Cristiano Ronaldo at his best as he thumped in an arrow-straight effort with his instep that dipped wickedly over the wall and beyond Guzan.
