Cesc Fabregas has called on his Chelsea teammates to keep the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table after they saw off Newcastle easily at Stamford Bridge.
Having been shocked by a Dwight Gayle strike in the 12th minute, the Blues hit back to claim all three points thanks to two Eden Hazard goals and an Alvaro Morata header.
As if to demonstrate their dominance, man-of-the-match Hazard had nine shots to Newcastle’s seven. But no sooner had they wrapped up the win than attention turned to trying to catch up City at the summit of the Premier League table.
“Yes it was definitely important to keep up with (Manchester City),” Fabregas admitted.
“Eight points is still a long way so we have to get closer and closer and hope they slip up.
“We have to put pressure on them. They are there because they deserve it and we have to keep on going and play our best.”
Chelsea came into the clash with Conte’s insistence that they could still win the title — despite the big gap — still ringing in their ears. If they are to somehow mount a challenge then they will need to go on a 13-game winning run as they did last season to have a hope. They also had Conte’s claim that the Blues have been given a raw deal with fixtures over the festive season still dominating the headlines. It wasn’t clear whether the latter was a pre-emptive in case the former doesn’t happen.
However, things definitely didn’t begin according to plan when Newcastle, after a lively start to the match, took the lead through Gayle’s strike. Jacob Murphy caused panic in the Chelsea defense, hitting a shot that Thibuat Courtois saved, only to see the Newcastle striker sweep in the rebound.
The hosts weren’t behind for long, however, as seconds after Andreas Christensen hit the post Hazard drove a shot past Karl Darlow into the Newcastle net.
It was an equalizer the Blues fully deserved ,and illustrated why Hazard is back to his most-feared best. The hosts then went ahead through a Morata header. Matt Ritchie’s weak defensive header went straight to Victor Moses who whipped the ball in the box for the Spaniard to head in his 10th of the season from no more than four yards.
Throughout the second half Chelsea kept on creating chances without ever really forcing a decent save from Darlow. The Blues then made sure of all three points when Hazard chipped in a penalty following Ritchie’s tripping of Moses.
Hazard was the star of the show and when asked whether he was disappointed that he didn’t complete a hat-trick — the Belgian was substituted before the final whistle — he said: “It’s not a problem for me, we won the game, that’s the most important thing. All players want to play but rest is sometimes good.”