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It was a special performance from a special Chelsea team to move in 5 points clear at the top of the table. Swansea were outplayed in every department as Chelsea made hay on a chilly night in south Wales.
Oscar put the Blues ahead after just 49 seconds, and Chelsea did not look back after that. Diego Costa scored a brace, followed by another Oscar strike to finish the half at 4-0. Andre Schurrle rounded things off in the second half with a simple tap in.
With Swansea letting go their top scorer, manager Garry Monk challenged Bafetimbi Gomis to step-up to the challenge. The Swans were short of numbers in midfield, with Jonjo Shelvey completing a four-match suspension and Ki Sung-yueng away on international duty. Nelson Oliveira who is on loan from Benfica, was given his full Premier League debut, playing behind Gomis while Gylfi Sigurdsson dropped deep into midfield.
Thibaut Courtois was still out injured, which meant Petr Cech could continue in goal. Gary Cahill came back into the squad after being rested against Newcastle.
It was always going to be a tough evening for Swansea, having beaten Chelsea in the Premier League.
Chelsea
GK – Petr Cech, 7: Having to judge a goalkeeper solely on his distribution is an indicator of exactly how easy the game was. Swansea did not have a single shot on target throughout the game, but nevertheless he looked assuring at the back and had the goal covered when Sigurdsson’s shot hit the bar.
CB – John Terry, 8.5: Commanding in the air, won the ball on the few occasions that he went into the tackle. Was never troubled by Gomis. But was hardly tested one on one, to which he has seemed susceptible to in previous matches.
CB – Gary Cahill, 8: Equally good as his defensive partner, except on one occasion when he almost put Gomis through on goal with an underhit back pass.
LB – Filipe Luis, 8: Dyer hardly ever caused him any problems. Made a couple of good tackles in the opening moments when Tiendalli tried to get down his flank. He was good going forward, but also assured in defence. An amazing second choice left back to have.
RB – Branislav Ivanovic, 8.5: Though used repetitively, swashbuckling is a perfect word for the Serb. Strong in defence, always rushing forward. He picked up an assist for the 5th goal, after a well timed run into the penalty box.
DM – Nemanja Matic, 8.5: The pillar on which rests the magical Chelsea midfield orchestra. An absolute giant in midfield, cutting out the counterattack, absolutely dominated the Swansea midfield.
CM – Cesc Fabregas, 9: Clearly the conductor of the midfield orchestra. He may have not scored a goal, but he picked up a customary assist and kept the metronome ticking with his incisive passing. The second goal was a showcase of the culture Fabregas has got with him to Chelsea.
CAM – Oscar, 9: The diminutive Brazilian is an integral part of the pressing game Mourinho wants to play. His first goal was a great example of that, when he picked up the loose ball from Carroll and finished clinically to beat Fabianski. He picked up another goal after a great cut-back from Costa. Inspite of his clinical finishing, he had Mourinho fuming in the technical area for a few underhit passes which was really sloppy for a player of his quality.
RAM – Willian, 8: Played his part well in the midfield symphony, and ran tirelessly until he was substituted. He may not rack up the goals or assists, but is an integral cog of this team. He hit the woodwork on a couple of occasions in the first half. He really should have scored from at least one of them.
LAM – Eden Hazard, 8: With the kind of performances he has given this season, you start to expect something special every time he gets the ball. Showed his usual flamboyance with the ball and played a major part in the last goal. What was also impressive was that even in the 90th minute he was full of energy and running.
ST – Diego Costa, 10: With 17 goals in 19 games, he is beginning to run away with the golden boot. But, it is the other aspects of the game that have made him a fan favourite. Everyone knows what a hard worker and feisty character he is. But today he showed how unselfish and what a great team man he is. On a hat trick, he could have gone for goal himself but instead he set up Willian and Oscar on two separate occasions. Today he gave another perfect display scoring, assisting, linking up play, and was unlucky not to get a hat trick. What a player he is proving to be.
Substitutes:
ST- Loic Remy: He came on for Costa, who was annoyed for being substituted without getting his hat-trick.
CM - Ramires: Came on for Fabregas, and slotted into the midfield role with his usual energetic running.
RAM - Andre Schurrle: Brought in for Willian, the World Cup Winner was desperate to make an impact. Found himself in a good position to tap in the final goal, denying Oscar who was behind him, a well deserved hat-trick.
Swansea
GK – Lukasz Fabianski, 5.5: He could do nothing about most of the Chelsea goals. Probably shouldn't have allowed Costa to beat him at his near post for the second goal. Except that he did well to deny Costa his hat trick by coming off his line twice and saved a great shot from Hazard.
CB – Ashley Williams, 4.5: The Swansea captain, looked terribly out of sorts against an amazingly well drilled Chelsea attack. He had to resort to roughing up Costa, trying to desperately draw him to do something untoward, to find some semblance of control for the Swans defence. Although he got injured, was brave and played through the pain in the second half.
CB - Federico Fernández, 4: He had an absolute nightmare of a match. Looked completely puzzled by the speed of passing, and made a loose back-pass, which fell to Costa who slotted it beyond Fabianski.
RB - Dwight Tiendalli, 4.5: More of an attacking right back, the Dutch footballer was needed in defence today. He did not allow Hazard to really cut-in down the flank, except on one occasion but he never really pressed him and stopped him from passing the ball into the centre.
LB - Neil Taylor, 4.5: He was given the responsibility of chasing down Willian, but he could never keep up with the interchanging positions of the Chelsea midfield trio. Was given the slip on the flank by Hazard, in the lead up to the last goal.
DM - Tom Carroll, 4.5: Was caught out completely by the Chelsea midfield. Could never keep up with the pace of the game. With due consideration, he is more of a box to box midfielder than a purely defensive midfielder, which was the position he was used in today.
CM - Gylfi Sigurdsson, 4.5: What a difference a position can make to a player’s performance. The Icelandic midfielder has the second highest assists in the league this season, but today he was played out of his usual position behind the striker. He did not look his part, as a defensive midfielder or a deep lying playmaker. Came closest to scoring for the Swans with a 30 yard effort which skimmed the post.
CAM - Nélson Oliveira, 4: The Portuguese, was handed his full debut for Swansea and has a long way to go to catch up with the pace of the Premier League. He hardly had a kick of the ball and cut a frustrated figure throughout the match.
RW - Nathan Dyer, 4.5: Another Swansea player who was missing from the Liberty Stadium. Kept under check by Luis, the Swans missed his incisive runs on the right.
LW - Wayne Routledge, 4: His pace was kept under check by the strength of Ivanovic. He picked up an injury early in the first half and finally succumbed to it and had to be substituted in the 32nd minute.
ST- Bafetimbi Gomis, 4: Terry and Cahill literally had him in their pockets. There were long spells of the match when he could have gone and grabbed a hot dog, and looking at the number of touches he had, maybe he did. Gary Monk will hope, the French striker comes up with better performances than this one. After selling top scorer Wilfried Bony, Swansea need him to fire if they want to mount a challenge for European football.
Substitutes:
LW - Marvin Emnes, 6: Came on for Routledge in the first half, and was the only spark in the Swansea team. Looked lively on the left flank, cutting in across Ivanovic on a couple of occasions.
CAM - Jay Fulton, 5: Rescued Nélson Oliveira from his misery after coming on in the 66th minute. Made no significant impact on the game.
RW - Mo Barrow: Came on for Nathan Dyer in the 75th minute.
Players introduced after 70 minutes don’t get a rating
