Alvaro Morata’s scintillating start to his Premier League career continued on Saturday, with the Spaniard netting a superb hat-trick as Chelsea blitzed Stoke 4-0 at the Bet365 Stadium.
It took only two minutes for Antonio Conte’s side to open the scoring, with Morata firing home after a fine long-range pass from fellow countryman Cesar Azpilicueta.
Stoke impressed after that early body-blow, but couldn’t find a way past a typically well-organised Chslea side.
On the half-hour mark, a dominant Chelsea made it 2-0 after Stoke captain Darren Fletcher’s attempted chest pass back to goal instead set up Pedro, with the winger making the most of the gift by firing past Jack Butland.
The Blues wouldn’t score against until the 77th minute, when Morata wound up on the scoresheet again after a superb run from the halfway line.
The former Real Madrid man then went on to complete his hat-trick soon after, via a fantastic team move, to make it six goals in his first six league games for Chelsea.
Late on, Peter Crouch was lucky not to see red after a dreadful, gangly challenge on Cesc Fabregas.
If Crouch wore a Chels shirt – this tackle would have been a red, aired and spoken about!@BBCMOTD – Think you missed this out! #CFC pic.twitter.com/w0W8VOHWB8
— MAD-P (@1michelle_payne) September 23, 2017
The comfortable win sees Chelsea go third, three points behind leaders Man City.
Stoke, on the other hand, are 15th, with just five points from their first six games.