‘A Blue Up North’ celebrates a very good win at Stoke and the birth of a new Chelsea hero…
Stoke away. Traditionally one of the toughest fixtures of the Premier League calendar. Stoke’s uncompromising and robust style backed by a passionate home crowd has been a successful combination in knocking the top teams off their stride.
However, Saturday was very different. In the build up to the match most Stoke fans were concerned with their lack of cover in defence and the arrival of a Chelsea team that is looking like title contenders again. Even the traditional rendition of ‘Delilah’ lacked the noise and passion of previous encounters.
Within 2 minutes their concerns were fully justified. The colossal Bakayoko won his first of many tackles and immediately drove forward. The ball was moved on to Azpilicueta who’s long ball over the top of a Stoke defence that was set up far too high up the field, allowed Morata to run clear and finish expertly.
The game then settled into a stalemate as Stoke mirrored Chelsea’s formation until the high press of the away side’s front three forced the error from Fletcher and Pedro pounced with a powerful shot. The half time score was purely a reflection of Chelsea’s quality in front of goal. Two attempts, two goals.
There was little change until Mark Hughes introduced Crouch on the hour. His extra height seemed to give the rest of the Stoke players more focus. They battled and tried to give everything in order to get back into the match. Despite all their efforts, the Chelsea defence held firm until Bakayoko won another tackle in the half way line and released Morata. His pace and directness took him clear of Stoke back line and another neat finish.
That just left time for the outstanding Azpilicueta, who was now playing at left wing back to pop up in the penalty box to chest down his second assist of the day for Morata to complete his first Chelsea hat trick.
The overall score line may look a little harsh on the home side but there were many quality performers in blue. Christensen is a very calm, assured defender, Rudiger is combative and very difficult to get past, Azpilicueta is a fantastic all round player exemplified by his two assists and his quality even when moved out of position onto the left flank, Kante and Bakayoko are a formidable combination in central midfield and Willian is regularly buzzing around trying to make space.
However the main praise has to go to Morata. He is still acclimatising to the rugged defences of the Premier League but this match was all about his pace and ability with the ball. Stoke tried as best they could to knock him off his stride but he kept creating space and showed how lethal he is. The timing of this performance could not of been more profound – the weekend which saw the confirmation of the sale of Diego Costa, the Chelsea faithful now have a new striker hero to cheer on.
Alvaro Morata. A striker that I can not wait to see when he is fully acclimatised to the Premier League.
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