Chelsea 4 Cardiff 1: Eden Hazard scores hat-trick as Blues come from behind to go top of the Premier League

The Belgian scored twice in seven minutes after Sol Bamba had fired Cardiff into a shock 16th minute lead at Stamford Bridge.


Cardiff skipper Sean Morrison powered a header across the face of goal and Bamba muscled his way past Jorginho to volley home from close range.

With Bamba, Morrison and the powerful Bruno Ecuele Manga dominating at the back, it looked as though Chelsea might struggle to find a way through to goal.

But Hazard came up with the perfect answer when he shimmied his way past Joe Bennett before rifling a low 37th minute shot into the far corner with his right foot.

And the former Premier League Footballer of the Year wasn’t finished there adding his fourth goal of the season following Jorginho’s quickly-taken free-kick a minute before half-time.


But the visitors were unable to resist the inevitable Chelsea fightback and simply had no answers to the genius of Hazard.

Without a win since returning to the Premier League, Neil Warnock’s team made it clear from the off that they were not going to make it easy for their hosts.

With everyone behind the ball and fired up to compete for every challenge, they were determined to frustrate the life out of Maurizio Sarri’s superstars.

Yet even Warnock looked shocked when his team when his team went ahead from a well-worked set-piece-routine.



David Luiz’s needless foul on Danny Ward gave Joe Ralls the opportunity to launch an angled free-kick towards the edge of the Chelsea penalty area.

Olivier Giroud did well to stretch out and reach Pedro’s inviting pull-back and Hazard did the rest with a shot which beat keeper Neil Etheridge with the help of a deflection off Morrison.

Bobby Reid came close to a 67th minute equaliser for Cardiff but any chances of a comeback were ended when Hazard netted an 80th minute penalty after Willian was brought down by Bamba.

Two minutes later it was Willian’s turn to get crowd off their with a curler into the top corner to take Chelsea top on goal difference.

The victory means Sarri becomes only the fourth manager in Premier League history to win his first five games in charge, joining Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Craig Shakespeare in the exclusive club.




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