Chelsea returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday.
Chelsea dominated the first half, and went into the break 2-0 up after Tiemoue Bakayoko’s neat finish (23) and Willian’s back-post header (43).
Pedro made it 3-0 with an effort from 15 yards (50) after the break, and Huddersfield got a consolation in injury time through sub Laurent Depoitre’s superb header past Thibaut Courtois (90+2).
The result means Chelsea are 11 points behind leaders Man City, who play at Swansea on Wednesday evening. Huddersfield are 12th, five clear of the drop zone.
Chelsea, coming off the back of a shock 1-0 defeat at West Ham, had all of the ball in the first half, and were ahead midway through as man-of-the-match Eden Hazard’s delightful flick found Willian, who fed Bakayoko to lift over Jonas Lossl.
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It was 2-0 two minutes before the break through Willian, who headed home at the far post from Marcos Alonso’s deep cross after Huddersfield defender Chris Lowe got caught under the ball.
It should have been 3-0 on the brink of half time, but Lossl did well to deny Pedro, who had been released through on goal by Hazard.
But Chelsea did get their third after the break, with Pedro directing the ball into the top corner from 12 yards after Willian had battled to win the ball from a cross.
Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois had little to do, but did get the slightest touch on Tom Ince’s effort inside the box, before Pedro dragged wide from just inside the box after the impressive Hazard had laid the ball off.
Courtois lost his clean sheet with the final meaningful touch of the game, seeing sub Depoitre’s superb header fly past him and into the corner of the net from Florent Hadergjonaj’s cross.
