Swansea 0-5 Chelsea - 5 talking points

Jose Mourinhos Chelsea have laid down the gauntlet at the defending champions Manchester City by thrashing Welsh club Swansea City at Liberty stadium. It was complete annihilation by Chelsea, who once again showed their erstwhile ruthless self as the hapless Swans were left shell-shocked by the vicious 34 minute spell of Chelsea where they were at their clinical best.It was Chelsea all the way in Swansea as they re-asserted their claim at the summit of Barclays Premier League.From Oscars brilliance to Diego Costas accuracy, here are the five talking points from this monumentally lopsided encounter -

#1 And the Oscar goes to - Oscar!

Some say he is a flat track bully while some say he just performs at the Bridge, but call it what you want because when he is on song he is simply on par with the very best in the business. Today was one such day when Oscar was in total control of the game.

His relentless pressing along with oodles of creativity made him the Man of the Match for obvious reasons. He scored a brace and also had an assist in Diego Costa’s first goal. Oscar made the effective use of the acres of space that was left behind by Gylfi Siggurdsson as he darted at the open Swansea defense which was already too much preoccupied with Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.

He could’ve had his hat-trick if not only Andre Schurrle hadn’t spoiled the party by scoring the fifth all by himself. But despite all this, we can say without a shadow of doubt that Oscar was the best player in the blue on pitch today. He was completely in his uninhibited form where at times he even outshone Eden Hazard. Now that really sums it up as far as Oscar’s performance at Liberty Stadium is concerned.

#2 Super Diego Costa

The chant, ‘He scores when he wants!’ is very apt for Diego Costa this season. The former Atletico Madrid man has seamlessly adapted to the English league. He has already scored 17 goals in the league which is very commendable for a forward who is in his debut season.

Now coming back to today’s game, Costa was a constant nuisance for this Swansea defense as he constantly harassed them with his eel-like movement and bullish physicality. His physicality is what worked in his favour as he was easily able to wriggle free from the Swansea defenders.

And with magicians like Hazard and Oscar working in tandem right behind him, there is hardly any chance of him having an off day. He showed his poaching abilities when he scored his second as he pounced onto a loose back pass from Federico Fernandez to Lukasz Fabianski. While his first was a perfect striker’s goal as he finished off a sublime move which was spearheaded by Cesc Fabregas.

It seems that if Chelsea are looking to topple Manchester City from their crown then Diego Costa is going to be their main weapon. He can do what Robin van Persie did with Manchester United in 2013.

#3 The brilliance of Cesc Fabregas

He is widely considered to be the last piece of Jose Mourinho’s title winning jigsaw. Cesc Fabregas has picked up from right where he left as the league’s directness is perfect for his creativity.

The Spaniard along with Nemanja Matic in the double pivot has been immense for Chelsea throughout the season. He Is considered to be Frank Lampard’s successor and the former Gunner hasn’t disappointed one bit till date. His dynamism in the middle of the park has been the X-factor for the Blues this season along with lethal Diego Costa.

Fabregas was always involved in the Swansea half as he was one of the important factor in Chelsea’s emphatic display in Wales. He easily negated Tom Carroll’s influence on the game as he was single-handedly dealing with the troika of Hazard, Oscar and Fabregas himself, also he was bursting forward more often than he usually does.

The most startling feature of his today’s performance was the relative ease with which he picked up his passes and also his man. He had ample time on the ball which was aided by some dirty work done by Oscar.

#4 Swansea in shambles

This was by far the worst performance by Swansea this season in Premier League. Their organization in midfield and lack of confidence in the attack was exploited by Chelsea to the maximum as they pumped five past them.

Swansea conceded in the very first minute as Oscar’s peach of a strike whistled past Fabianski into the Swansea. The hosts started the game brightly but soon started to fade out as they were simply clueless about whom they were facing. The high pressing game by Chelsea’s midfield and attackers left them dumbfounded.

Gylfi Sigurdsson’s lack of graft in the midfield was grossly exploited by Oscar who just killed the game inside thirty minutes. Also, the loss of Wilfred Bony has disrupted their attacking rhythm as Bafetimbi Gomis is nowhere near his usual sharpness and also his lack of confidence was evident numerous times when he failed to assert himself in the game. Wayne Routledge and Kieron Dyer tried to show some fighting spirit, but they simply couldn’t shake a rock-solid Chelsea defence.

Ashley Williams’ injury took away the much-needed leadership and steel from their defence which was then split open by the Chelsea attackers at will. Gary Monk has a monumental task of filling in the void created by departure of Wilfred Bony or else this could spell doom for the Welsh boys.

#5 Chelsea\'s midfield domination

The main reason for Chelsea’s emphatic win against Swansea was the total domination of the visitors in midfield. The triumvirate of Matic, Fabregas and Oscar were simply relentless in the middle of the park where Swans were initially outnumbered but were simply outclassed throughout the game.

Nemanja Matic has been Chelsea’s silent hero this season. He always does the dirty work for his team and most of the times he is player who goes unnoticed as the limelight is hogged by the stars like Hazard, Costa, Oscar et al.

The Serb has shone even more brightly in partnership with Cesc Fabregas, whose finesse has given him more freedom to perform his role. He bullied Gylfi Siggurdsson to that extent that the Iceland international was hardly visible throughout the game. He even relieved his defense by taking care of Swansea’s most influential player without breaking sweat.

Such was Chelsea’s domination in midfield that Swansea had to struggle really hard to get into Chelsea’s penalty box. The only way they penetrated was via the long balls or hopeless crosses from wings. Soon, they stifled the Swansea’s midfield to such extent that they barely were able to string a decent enough move. It seems unbelievable but there were times in the match when the hosts were struggling to string more than three passes in Chelsea’s half.