Cesc Fabregas: First half against West Bromwich Albion was the most I have enjoyed a football match

Cesc Fabregas of Chelsea in action against West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea resumed their Premier League campaign after the two-week international break, as they completely dominated Saturday’s fixture against West Bromwich Albion and moved further up the table with two first-half goals.

Cesc Fabregas was at the centre of the game with an assist and the Spanish international praised the team for their performance in the first half.

“Controlled the game and played excellent football”

The former Barcelona player spoke about the game and the team’s performances so far: “I don’t think I am exaggerating if I don’t remember playing and enjoying a football match as much as I did personally in the first half,” he remarked.

“We played outstanding football. It is always difficult after internationals because the team doesn’t have time to work on many things and prepare the game but I enjoyed it a lot, particularly the first 45 minutes.

Some people who didn’t watch the game will think 2-0, it was just an okay game but it was much more than that. It was a beautiful performance, very consistent, a clean sheet, we created plenty of chances and we had control of the game. That is why I think we need to be more effective in front of goal and score more goals and send an even bigger message to our opponents,” he added.

Fabregas added to his list of assists when he helped Eden Hazard score from his corner, after Chelsea’s prolific striker Diego Costa had scored the opening goal. West Brom went a man down in the ending moments of the first half, but the midfielder emphasized that the team lost its intensity in the second half because of that and he claimed that there was no conscious decision to not score more goals.

“We saw the game was comfortable and maybe they [West Brom] dropped off a lot and they were just defending and they didn’t want to try to attack.

It is not the mentality but subconsciously when there are 15 minutes left and you know that you are winning and they haven’t created anything then maybe it brings into your head some more negative thoughts - but overall the first 45 minutes were outstanding, the second 45 not as good but still professional and consistent. We are very happy because the main objective was three points and on top of that, if you can play great football then even better.”

“Long way to go and we need to improve”

Table toppers Chelsea are now unbeaten in the twelve league games this season, which is a new Chelsea record, but the 27-year-old said that the Blues are determined not to get carried away with all this at present as there is a long way to go for the season to end.

“We know it is a long way to go and we don’t look at all the comments from TV, press or fans because if you start looking at it now, everyone will think that Chelsea has already won the title and it is not like that. We are professionals and some of us have been playing these type of competitions for a very long time and we have only played a few games really [this season]. It is a long way to go and we still have to do better than that.

I don’t compare us with any other big sides because we haven’t won anything, this is just the beginning. Everyone is talking well about Chelsea now, how great we are and then you lose two games they will talk about how bad we are. We have been long enough in football not to fall into this trap and to just keep going the way we want to achieve things.”