Chelsea 5-0 Huddersfield: Gonzalo Higuain, Eden Hazard star in win

Gonzalo Higuain and Eden Hazard both scored twice as Chelsea returned to winning ways with a much-needed 5-0 victory over Huddersfield.

Higuain opened the scoring after 16 minutes with his first goal for Chelsea, who came under scrutiny after they were thrashed 4-0 by Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Hazard made it 2-0 with a penalty in first-half injury-time and then added the third in the 66th minute.

January signing Higuain curled in his second shortly afterwards (69) before David Luiz headed in from a corner late in the game (86).

The win moves Chelsea back into the top four in the Premier League, with Arsenal and Manchester United playing on Sky Sports on Sunday, while Huddersfield stay 13 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table.

Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri had faced some tough questions after their worst Premier League defeat in 23 years in midweek, but they made an encouraging start against Huddersfield as Ross Barkley flashed a shot wide and Hazard forced Jonas Lossl into a diving save.

Huddersfield had the best chance of the opening 15 minutes, though, as Mooy headed over the bar from Chris Lowe's cross.

Chelsea took the lead in the 16th minute when N'Golo Kante slipped a well-disguised pass into the box for Higuain, who fired past Lossl at the near post.

Higuain then went close to a second as he poked wide from Marcos Alonso's cross.

Huddersfield threatened on the break when Philip Billing saw a shot blocked, but Chelsea added to their lead late in the half as Hazard converted from the penalty spot after Cesar Azpilicueta had been fouled right on the edge of the box.

The visitors were denied a penalty of their own early in the second half when Elias Kachunga went down in the box under a challenge from Andreas Christensen.

Two goals in three minutes then put Chelsea in firm control, with Hazard finishing after rounding Lossl and Higuain curling in a shot from 20 yards with the aid of a deflection.

Luiz headed in from a corner in the 86th minute to round off the win.

Opta stats

Chelsea have only lost one of their last 16 home Premier League games (W9 D6).
Huddersfield have failed to score in a league-high 13 different Premier League games this season.
Chelsea scored five goals in a Premier League game for the first time since December 2017, when they beat Stoke 5-0 at Stamford Bridge.
After winning their first ever Premier League game in London (3-0 vs Crystal Palace), Huddersfield have won none of their last seven trips to the capital in the competition (D1 L6), netting just one goal in that time.
Chelsea striker Gonzalo Higuain has scored 38 goals in 37 league appearances under manager Maurizio Sarri.
Eden Hazard registered his 200th and 201st goal involvements in his top-flight league career (117 goals, 84 assists), with 130 of those coming at Chelsea.
Gonzalo Higuain became the first Chelsea player to score twice on their home league debut for the club since Mario Stanic vs West Ham in August 2000.
Chelsea's N'Golo Kante provided two assists in a single league match for the first time in his top-flight career.

Man of the match - Eden Hazard

After reportedly being singled out for criticism by Sarri after Chelsea's defeat to Bournemouth, Hazard responded with a fabulous individual display. He was always a threat on the ball, even managing to stay on his feet after two players tried to bring him down in the second half.

Sarri has said that Hazard can sometimes be "an individual player more than a leader", but this was him leading by example.

What would VAR have changed?

This would have been a busy game for the Video Assistant Referee.

There was a penalty decision at the end of the first half that went Chelsea’s way when Azpilicueta appeared to be fouled right on the edge of the box.

Chelsea were then denied a second penalty after Hazard went down in the area.

Huddersfield might have had a penalty in the second half when Christensen clipped Kachunga’s ankles.

All the decisions appeared to be close calls, so VAR might not have satisfied everyone anyway.

The managers

Maurizio Sarri: "We need consistency, so we have to continue. I am very happy with the match and I hope in the future we will not need a lost match to play with the right mentality."

Jan Siewert: "I don't feel good because we lost 5-0 and we can't compete with Chelsea. We can't compare our clubs at the moment. We tried everything to beat them but they showed they are also very hungry because of their defeat against Bournemouth."

What's next?

Chelsea face a trip to Manchester City in the Premier League next Sunday, live on Sky Sports. Huddersfield host Arsenal on Saturday.

Chelsea 5

Huddersfield Town 0