Alvaro Morata scored his first Chelsea hat-trick to help his side to a 4-0 victory over Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.
Morata stole the headlines with his treble, including the opening goal after just 80 seconds, while Pedro also got his name on the scoresheet in the first half as Chelsea returned to winning ways in the Premier League.
Antonio Conte left the likes of Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard on the bench, while Mark Hughes was forced into naming a makeshift defensive line due to Kurt Zouma, Ryan Shawcross, Kevin Wimmer and Geoff Cameron all being sidelined by a mixture of injury and ineligibility.
The stand-in backline was exposed as early as the second minute when Cesar Azpilicueta’s long ball forward released Morata clean through on goal, and the Spaniard tucked his finish into the bottom corner for his fourth Premier League goal of the season.
Stoke failed to trouble Thibaut Courtois despite being the better side, and Chelsea punished the home side’s lack of penetration by adding a second on the half-hour mark.
Darren Fletcher’s attempted chest back to his defenders only found Pedro, who took a touch before firing a clinical finish into the bottom corner with unerring accuracy.
Chelsea’s two-goal lead ensured that they had an element of control over the game, but Marcos Alonso threatened that when he almost followed up a first yellow card with a second just two minutes later.
Stoke continued to probe for a route back into the match, though, and Joe Allen lashed one powerful half-volley over the crossbar from the edge of the area before Xherdan Shaqiri drew the first save from Courtois.
Whereas Stoke were toothless, Chelsea were ruthless and they put the game to bed once and for all with 12 minutes remaining when Morata capitalised on another error to race down the left challenge before lifting a lovely finish over Jack Butland from a tight angle.
Eden Hazard – on as a sub for Willian – almost added a fourth moments later when his low drive was cleared off the line by Glen Johnson, but it was only a temporary reprieve for the hosts and Morata completed his hat-trick moments later to cap off the scoring.
Having seen three accomplished finishes already it was a fine team goal which added gloss to the result as Cesc Fabregas’s chipped pass into the box found Azpilicueta, who chested the ball into the path of Morata as his compatriot applied the simple finish.