Chelsea have enjoyed a weekend off after previously being knocked out of the FA Cup by Bradford City, having widened the gap at the top of the Premier League to seven points over the past week.
Back-to-back victories over struggling Aston Villa and Everton may not have been pretty but Manchester City struggling to a 1-1 draw at home to Hull City last weekend has put Jose Mourinho’s men firmly in the driving seat for the Premier League title.
Mourinho has found that winning combination of a trademark solid defence whilst the summer signings of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa have added a genuine goal threat that the Blues were lacking last season.
But after getting rod of the likes of Fernando Torres, goals have certainly not been a problem for Mourinho’s men this time around, with Costa in particular scoring for fun.
He features prominently in this countdown of Chelsea’s five best goals of the 2014/15 season so far.
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Click on Jose Mourinho to reveal the top 5 Chelsea goals of the 2014/15 season so far.
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Andre Schurrle vs Burnley
A beautiful passing move was ended in style on the opening weekend for the Blues by Andre Schurrle who has since been sold to Wolfsburg but on this occasion, all the plaudits went to Cesc Fabregas.
On his Premier League debut for the Blues, Fabregas played through a perfectly weighted disguised through ball for Schurrle who made no mistake in putting Mourinho’s men 2-1 up.
And they haven’t looked back since!
Diego Costa vs Everton (2nd)
Diego Costa started the scoring on that crazy evening at Goodison Park but it was the goal that finished it that makes the top five.
Not only was it the sort of finish we have come to expect from the Spanish international with a step over and a shot so accurate it hit the inside of the post on it’s way in, but John Obi Mikel – yes, John Obi Mikel, set him through with a cheeky back heel.
A definite collector’s item.
Diego Costa vs Swansea City (2nd)
Diego Costa has at last broken the spell of the expensive striker at Stamford Bridge with his second goal of the home game against Swansea City representing a superb centre forward’s finish.
His link-up play with Cesc Fabregas has been the main feature of Chelsea’s season and the former Barcelona man did superbly to get to the byline and pick out Costa from eight yards.
The manner in which Costa casually lifted the ball into the roof of the net to put Chelsea in front and on his way to a hat-trick was the sort of finishing Chelsea fans have not seen since Didier Drogba’s final season with the Blues.
Eden Hazard vs Southampton
Hazard has often been the man for the big occasion for the Blues this season and his equaliser on the south coast in December came at a crucial time.
With the Blues trailing 1-0 to an in-form Southampton side, in the final minute of the first half the Belgian collected a chipped pass from Cesc Fabgreas, cut inside the last two defenders from the left hand side and powered a shot beyond Fraser Forster into the bottom corner.
The goal earned Chelsea a point on a day that will be remembered for the controversial decision not to award the Blues a second half penalty and the subsequent comments from Mourinho.
Oscar vs QPR
The Brazilian has taken over Frank Lampard’s iconic number 8 shirt and goals of this quality on a consistent basis will go a long way to helping him do it justice.
Once again, Cesc Fabregas was the architect, driving forward from midfield and weighting a ball into the path of Oscar on the right hand side of the box.
He stepped onto the ball and hit it first time with the outside of his boot beyond the despairing dive of Robert Green and into the bottom corner to send the Blues on their way to another three points.
