Chelsea analysis: Alvaro Morata's timely hat-trick as Cesar Azpilicueta stakes captain claim

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Simon Johnson23 September 2017

Alvaro Morata scored a hat-trick as third-placed Chelsea kept up their pursuit of Manchester's Premier League pace-setters by routing Stoke City 4-0 on Saturday.

Having taken four points from home games against Arsenal and Manchester United, Stoke could hardly have anticipated their terrible start when they conceded on 83 seconds to a neat finish from Morata, his fourth goal of the season and first with his boot.

But without three defenders including Kurt Zouma, Stoke struggled to stifle Chelsea's counter-attacks and conceded again after half-an-hour when Darren Fletcher mistakenly chested the ball into the path of Pedro, whose right-foot shot gave keeper Jack Butland no chance.

Stoke stayed in the game until Morata finished them off with goals in the 77th and 82nd minutes, first dinking the ball over Butland and then tapping in to take his season's tally to six. Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois suffered an injury after falling heavily but played on.

Simon Johnson was at the bet365 Stadium to assess the key talking points...

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Azpilicueta shows his leadership skills

There is a section of Chelsea fans that believe Azpilicueta should have been handed the captain's armband on a permanent basis following John Terry's departure and this display showed why.

With first-choice skipper Gary Cahill rested on the bench for the first hour, presumably with Atletico Madrid in mind, Azpilicueta led the team out. The Spain international was superb throughout, helping Chelsea defensively as they struggled to string a pass together.

Speaking of which, Azpilicueta provided the pass of the game for Alvaro Morata to put the visitors in front after 72 seconds - he also set up his team-mate for Chelsea's fourth.

That is the fourth assist he's supplied for Morata in the League this season and he is simply setting the standard in attack and defence at the moment.

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Morata's hat-trick makes a timely point

Diego Costa's departure to Atletico Madrid has put Morata back under scrutiny this week. Three League goals in his first four matches had silenced some of the doubters, only for the striker to struggle against Arsenal last Sunday.

Suddenly his style of play was being talked more negatively to that of Costa, who used to bully the Gunners more often than not. So to find the net so early on at the bet365 Stadium was the perfect response and it was his first with his feet for Chelsea too.

The finish for his second and Chelsea's third was even more sublime, while the hat-trick rounded off a neat move.

Statistics show that Morata has six goals and two assists from his first six League games, matching the club record set by Costa (total of eight goals and assists combined) in the same amount of fixtures.

And just like Costa used to do, Morata was back in his own area heading balls to safety on occasion.

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Conte finally has a reason to thank the referee

The Chelsea coach has blamed the match officials rather than his players for their ill discipline over the last few months.

Before today, Chelsea had received five red cards in their previous nine matches, but it could quite easily have been a neat half dozen this afternoon. Marcos Alonso might have been ordered off for two yellow cards, but referee Mike Dean chose to warn him instead.

Given Chelsea's terrible record lately, Alonso was rather foolish to follow up an ugly lunge on Joe Allen, which saw him booked, with another ill-timed tackle minutes later. Maybe Mame Diouf may made the most of it, but Alonso still gave Dean a decision to make when he brought him down.

Conte's concern was exposed when he substituted Alonso for Cahill to ensure the decision to bring off the former was his.

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Bakayoko and Kante's midfield partnership is progressing

It wasn't too surprising that Bakayoko was selected ahead of Cesc Fabregas for the annual physical battle at the bet365 Stadium. Bakayoko is clearly still getting used to the pace of English football as some of his heavy and slow touches showed.

However, there were times where he stood up to the home side in impressive fashion. Significantly it was his interception and run that kickstarted the opening goal.

With the energetic Kante beside him, the duo look a formidable pairing that will be pretty intimidating once Bakayoko is fully settled at Stamford Bridge.

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Chelsea start a tough week in the perfect fashion

There must have been a part of Conte that looked at Chelsea's last three games in September with a sense of dread.

Stoke away, followed by a trip to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and a home league game against free-scoring Manchester City is the stuff of nightmares.

The Italian admitted in his pre-match press conference that it's going to be a huge challenge, so he will be delighted with the way they passed this first test.

Bizarrely, Chelsea were by no means at their best yet they showed resilience at the back when they needed it and some ruthlessness in attack.

It means they will fly out to Madrid full of confidence on Tuesday and with real momentum behind them