Chelsea vs Hull City – 3 talking points
Eden Hazard and Diego Costa scored as Chelsea beat 10-man Hull 2-0. While the score line suggests that it was comfortable game for the Blues, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, the home side were lucky to finish with their full complement of players as the visitors huffed and puffed on a day when once again too many Chelsea players failed to turn up. Thankfully for the Blues, they have Hazard, the mercurial Belgian opened the scoring inside 10 minutes and created the second for Costa as the hosts stayed three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table.
HazardHere are the three major talking points from the game.
1. Plenty of positives for Hull
When you are a side going to play the best team in the country, who have won all of their home games in the League this season, it is fair to say that you are not going there expecting a win, especially when you are languishing near the bottom of the table and haven’t won in the last eight League games. But although they conceded an early goal, lost their most experienced central defender and played for most of the second with 10-men, it is fair to say that they gave their best away performance of the season so far.
Although they lost and deservedly so, Steve Bruce will be happy with the fact that his side gave the hosts a tough game. So far this season, the Tigers have drawn away at Anfield, Emirates and Goodison Park and just before Tom Huddlestone’s sending off it looked as they might add Stamford Bridge to that as well. But although they didn’t win and it is now no away wins since the opening game against QPR, there are plenty of positives for the manager to take away from his side’s performance.
2. Foy’s inconsistency infuriating
A referee’s job isn’t easy. Nobody’s saying that it is. While spectators and journalists get the benefit of replays, the men in the middle have to make a split-second decision every single time. But what infuriates fans and players alike is the inconsistency that is sometimes evident in the way that they go about making decisions.
At Stamford Bridge, Chris Foy who was at the centre of controversy last weekend for sending off Lukas Fabianski was having a good game up until the second half. The referee had decided that he was going to take a hard stance on simulation by brandishing a yellow card to Willian in the first half. In the second half, when Gary Cahill went over theatrically, while already on a booking, Foy gave the visitors the free kick but didn’t send Cahill off. But just a few minutes later, he booked Diego Costa for a dive. And although it might not have had a bearing on the final outcome, that is precisely the kind of double standards that infuriates everyone.
3. Blues march on, albeit unconvincingly
Hull City haven’t won any of their last eight games and Chelsea had won all of their home League games. On paper, this was only ever going to go one way. And although, after Eden Hazard’s early goal, that looked to be the case, the Blues were never really able to exert their dominance on the game.
Following their defeat last weekend at Newcastle, many expected the hosts to rack up a cricket score, but the visitors defended well, even though Michael Dawson had to go off early in the first half. The Blues were content with a 1-0 win which didn’t particularly please the fans, who started booing the side. But after they scored the second and Hazard brought out the party tricks, the cheers were back. Although they won 2-0, it still doesn’t disguise the fact that this was another unconvincing home performance, albeit without Fabregas.