Stoke City 0-4 Chelsea: Alvaro Morata scores sublime hat-trick to help champions ease past Potters as Pedro also scores impressive victory

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In the time it's taken Diego Costa to fly to Madrid and sign for Atletico, Chelsea fans have forgotten all about him. Replacement Alvaro Morata bagged a splendid hat-trick and was serenaded by the club's noisy travelling support.

They sang: 'He comes from sunny Spain, he's better than Harry Kane', rather than the unsavoury chant from earlier in the season.

Morata was brilliant from start to finish, scoring his opening goal after only 83 seconds and mantaining his levels so he could poach numbers two and three towards the end. 

Alvaro Morata put Chelsea in front away at Stoke City after 83 seconds following a brilliant Cesar Azpilicueta pass

Pedro doubled the away advantage on the half hour with a whipped finish after an error in midfield by Darren Fletcher

Morata made it three for Chelsea and two for himself with a great run and clipped finish over the prone and helpless Butland

The Spain international then completed his hat-trick after a superb passing move with a close range finish on 82 minutes

PLAYER RATINGS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE

Stoke City (3-4-3): Butland 6; Johnson 5, Martins Indi 6.5 (Afellay 76, 6), Pieters 6; Diouf 7, Fletcher 4.5, Allen 6, Ramadan 5.5; Shaqiri 6.5, Choupo-Moting 6, Jese 5.5 (Crouch 61, 6.5) 

Unused subs: Grant, Tymon, Souttar, Adam, Berahino

Bookings: Shaqiri 47, Crouch 89

Manager: Mark Hughes

Chelsea (3-4-3): Courtois 6.5; Azpilicueta 8, Christensen 6.5, Rudiger 7; Moses 6.5, Kante 6.5, Bakayoko 7, Alonso 6.5 (Cahill 58, 6); Willian 7 (Hazard 73, 6), Morata 9, Pedro 7.5 (Fabregas 68, 7) 

Unused subs: Caballero, Zappacosta, Musonda, Batshuayi

Goals: Morata 2, 77, 82, Pedro 30

Bookings: Alonso 50, Kante 56

Manager: Antonio Conte  

Referee: Mike Dean 7

Attendance: 29,661 

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Chelsea took the lead after just 83 seconds at the Bet365 Stadium after Cesar Azpilicueta's excellent 40-yard pass found Alvaro Morata to finish. For more pitch maps, data and statistics, visit our exclusive MATCH ZONE service by clicking here.

 

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Morata took just two minutes to score his first, but had to wait until the final 15 where he scored twice within five minutes

Though Stoke were seriously disrupted by injuries, there was no doubting the former Real Madrid star's quality, different to the way Costa bullied the same opposition in March, but just as masterful.

With Pedro also on the score sheet, Chelsea were able to comfortably keep their 100 per cent away record and show this season's title race might not be a two-horse affair between the Manchester clubs.

A lot has been made of the strength in depth available to Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho but Chelsea's bench at the Bet365 Stadium included Gary Cahill, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard – not to shabby.

'Alvaro did very well. He scored a hat-trick just like Michy Batshuayi did in midweek, it's very important for a striker. I am pleased about his performance but also the team as it shows they are creating chances,' said winning manager Antonio Conte.

'It's always a difficult game at Stoke. We struggled to win 2-1 last season with a late goal. The key this time was to start well and score early. Then we were in control of the game. Morata was very good. Now he has to continue this way to be a great striker.' 

Stoke's line-up looked vulnerable with injuries to Kevin Wimmer, Geoff Cameron and Ryan Shawcross leaving Bruno Martins Indi as the only available centre-half, with loanee Kurt Zouma ineligible to face his parent club.

They sent out a three-man central defence with two full-backs, and two attack-minded wingers as wing-backs and the disjointed look saw them fall behind in only the second minute.

Cesar Azpilicueta pinged a long ball and Morata found acres of space between Glen Johnson and Martins Indi though his finish, one touch to control and a second low past Jack Butland, was world-class.

Chelsea's second arrived after 30 minutes courtesy of Stoke captain and their most experienced player, Darren Fletcher. 

Morata, who has scored the majority of his Chelsea goals so far with his head, applied a cool right-foot finish past Butland

Morata shot home after Azplicueta played a 40-yard pass following good work by midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko

Morata, the headline summer recruit for the Blues from Real Madrid, showed his value by steering the ball over Butland

Morata is congratulated after scoring the opener by Azpilicueta - captain on the day for Chelsea - and his team mates

The 33-year-old midfielder attempted a chest pass to Martins Indi just outside his box but played the ball into the path of Pedro who finished brilliantly from 18 yards. Fletcher knew he'd cost his team, screaming out an expletive at the top of his voice as the ball hit the back of the net. 

Stoke needed something to lift the crowd and Mame Diouf raised the volume with a spectacular overhead kick from Joe Allen's cross that flew narrowly over.

There was also drama at the start of the second half when Marcos Alonso received a bang on the face from Diouf and vented his frustration by kicking Allen to receive a yellow. He then caught Diouf leaving Stoke fans to bay for a red card.

Alonso was removed by Conte after 59 minutes, Hughes considering it evidence that Chelsea knew he'd been lucky to escape a dismissal.  

Pedro then doubled the lead with a powerful strike after Fletcher had given the ball away 30 yards out off his chest

Morata hugs Pedro after his goal, which helped make a tricky task for the champions at the Bet365 Stadium look a lot easier

The Spain international then got himself on the score sheet again, capitalising on a Glen Johnson mistake and lifting his finish

Johnson was bullied off the ball by Morata, who then out-paced the flagging City back line before scoring another goal

Morata then slid in No 3 for him and No 4 for the visitors after the ball was chested across the face of goal by Azpilicueta

Azpilicueta celebrates his second assist of the day with Morata, who left the bet365 Stadium with the match ball in his arms

The Chelsea fans serenaded Morata with a new song: 'He comes from sunny Spain, he's better than Harry Kane'

'He should have been sent off,' said the Stoke manager, who was irritable through the game and warned by the fourth official to calm down at one stage.

The Italian denied that was the motivation for replacing his left wing-back. 'Honestly, it was a tactical substitution. I could see they were preparing to bring on Peter Crouch.

'You know very well we always suffer with him and for this reason I preferred to reinforce our defensive line with Gary Cahill and to move Azpi to wing-back.'

Cahill duly came on for Chelsea with Crouch arriving two minutes later and promptly winning a knockdown that Diouf fired over, but Morata had the last laugh to underline why Chelsea spent a record £60million transfer fee on him last summer. 

Chelsea had a scare in the second half when keeper Thibaut Courtois went down after a clash of heads collecting a cross

Coutois collided with Gary Cahill and Peter Crouch and fell awkwardly, but was able to continue after treatment

Erik Pieters (right) and Joe Allen walk away dejected after Chelsea's second goal left them with a mountain to climb

Mame Biram Diouf takes aim at goal with a spectacular overhead kick, but his effort was well off target before half time

After 77 minutes, he capitalised on a intercepted pass from Johnson to accelerate away from the defender and past the struggling Fletcher. The move was completed by a lovely dinked finish over Butland.

The hat-trick goal arrived five minutes later. Fabregas pinged a quarteback pass to Azpilicueta who managed a chested pass into Morata's path without breaking stride.

Chelsea's No9 tapped in one of the easier goals of his career and Hughes said: 'He is a top quality striker, clearly. For that money you would expect that and if you look at the chance conversions, Chelsea had seven shots on target and he scored three. We had 13 and didn't score any. You can't win Premier League games if you make catastrophic errors and we made at least three.

'We were still very much in the game at 2-0 but then Bruno went off because he'd done his groin. Once we were down to no centre-backs, they were able to embellish the scoreline.'

As the hero Morata was engulfed by team-mates, the travelling Blue army broke into song. There must have been temporary alarm in the directors' box given that an earlier ditty for Morata contained some unacceptable anti-semitic content.

The fans had heeded the stern warnings not to repeat that tune and instead sang about their new hero being better than Harry Kane - and possibly Costa, too.

Stoke's main attacking threat came through attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, here taking on Antonio Rudiger

Fletcher, captain of the home side, shields the ball in midfield from the attentions of Chelsea playmaker N'Golo Kante

Andreas Christensen - starting in place of Cahill in the centre of Chelsea's defence - rises to perform a defensive header

The managers of both sides, Mark Hughes (left) and Antonio Conte appeal for a decision from the referee, Mike Dean

Adoring Chelsea fans of all ages were keen to get hold of hat-trick hero Morata's shirt at the end of the game