Swansea City vs Chelsea. Premier League.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,785.
Saturday 17 January 2015 19:55, UK
Diego Costa and Oscar each scored twice as a first-half onslaught from Chelsea overwhelmed Swansea 5-0 at the Liberty Stadium.
The Chelsea forwards both bagged a brace before the break and Andre Schurrle added a fifth in the closing stages as Jose Mourinho’s men extended their Premier League lead to five points, with second-placed Manchester City facing Arsenal on Sunday.
It took 50 seconds for the away side to assert their authority, as Oscar picked up Gylfi Sigurdsson’s sloppy pass before driving toward goal and shooting into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Within moments the hosts could have been level when Sigurdsson almost made up for his previous error in spectacular fashion, but his 30-yard strike clattered against the angle of bar and post.
That was Swansea’s best moment of the afternoon as Chelsea turned up the volume – Oscar shot at Lukasz Fabianski and Willian wasted the rebound in the 13th minute, but their profligacy wouldn’t last.
After 20 minutes, a marauding passing move through the centre ended with Cesc Fabregas notching his 15th Premier League assist this season when Costa hammered home the second goal.
Just minutes prior, Oscar and Eden Hazard had narrowly missed as Swansea failed to deal with Chelsea’s quick-fire passing and movement.
The Blues appeared to step up into different gears at the sight of their vulnerable opponents and Willian thundered a shot against the post with Swansea’s defence again bypassed.
Swansea’s unrelenting philosophy of passing from the back haunted them again for Chelsea’s third – Federico Fernandez’s lazy back-pass gifted Costa a one-on-one opportunity and he netted his 17th of the league season.
Just 76 seconds later, Chelsea robbed the ball back and Oscar delivered a curling shot from the edge of the box past Fabianski for the fourth goal.
Costa still found time to miss a gilt-edged chance for a first-half hat-trick when he dribbled around the goalkeeper but found himself too wide to score. He teed up Willian, who hit the bar.
Perhaps with an eye on Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final against Liverpool, Chelsea softened their frenetic approach in the second period while maintaining a steely control of proceedings.
Costa was denied a hat-trick as Mourinho withdrew him after 70 minutes but it was a substitute that added the fifth.
After Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic’s work on the right, Schurrle scored from point-blank range two minutes after his introduction.
Soccer Saturday reaction - Alan McInally
Chelsea’s passing in the final third was simply irresistible, it was accurate. They had a real confidence about them in the first 25 minutes. Of course when they got the first goal, albeit with a misplaced pass from Sigurdsson and Oscar takes it and drills it past Fabianski, you could genuinely hear the crowd say ‘uh oh, that’s a bit early to concede, in the first minute’. At 2-0 I thought they might take it easy but they kept on. Matic was different class, Fabregas was always a problem. They looked a really, really good outfit and Swansea were a yard shorter, a yard slower and muscled out of the game.
Player ratings
Chelsea: Cech (6), Ivanovic (7), Cahill (6), Terry (7), Luis (7), Matic (7), Fabregas (9), Willian (8), Oscar (9), Hazard (8), Costa (8).
Used subs: Ramires (6), Remy (6), Schurrle (7).
Swansea: Fabianski (7), Tiendalli (5), Fernandez (4), Williams (6), Taylor (5), Sigurdsson (4), Carroll (3), Dyer (5), Oliveira (3), Routledge (4), Gomis (3).
Used subs: Emnes (6), Barrow (5), Fulton (5).
Man of the match: Oscar
