Chelsea continue hunting down the Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League table when they travel to Stoke.

The Blues are hot on the tails of City and United having made a superb recovery from their opening day defeat to Burnley.

Stoke will offer a resilient challenge, however, and have a victory over Arsenal at the Bet365 Stadium already this season.

But Alvaro Morata showed why he will be a more than adequate replacement for Diego Costa as he struck the opener inside two minutes.

And Pedro doubled the visitors' lead on the half-hour mark before Morata hit another two.

Follow all the action below...

Stoke: Butland, Diouf, Martins Indi, Pieters, Johnson Fletcher, Allen, Sobhi, Shaqiri, Choupo-Moting, Jese.

Subs: Berahino, Tymon, Afellay, Adam, Crouch, Grant, Soutar.

Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Moses Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso, Willian, Pedro, Morata.

Subs: Caballero, Fabregas, Hazard, Musonda, Zappacosta, Batshuayi Cahill.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

(
Image:
PA)

Early team news

Stoke boss Mark Hughes will be without three of his main centre-half options and possibly four for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea at the bet365 Stadium.

While on-loan Kurt Zouma is ineligible to face his parent club, Ryan Shawcross (back) and Geoff Cameron (hamstring) remain sidelined, and Kevin Wimmer is a doubt due to a hamstring problem of his own.

Hughes, who is set to restore several regular starters after making six changes for the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, may opt to deploy Glen Johnson or fellow full-back Erik Pieters alongside Bruno Martins Indi in central defence.

Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard is expected to make his first Premier League start of the season.

Hazard has fully recovered from his broken ankle after three substitute appearances and one start, in the Carabao Cup win over Nottingham Forest.

Forward Pedro has recovered from the leg injury which saw him miss the Forest win, but defender David Luiz is suspended and midfielder Danny Drinkwater (calf) is out.

(
Image:
Getty)