Chelsea demolished Everton, goes top

Chelsea went top of the Premier League after a brilliant 5-0 win over Everton on Saturday gave them the biggest victory of Antonio Conte’s managerial tenure so far.

Eden Hazard put in his best performance of the new era, scoring twice in an exceptional individual performance, with Marcos Alonso, Diego Costa and Pedro Rodriguez also on target.

Everton, sixth in the table, never looked capable of coping with Chelsea and collapsed under the weight of the home side’s repeated attacks.

Chelsea currently look a world away from the problems of last season and this was the fourth awkward-looking game in a row in which they have made things look all too easy.

It helped greatly that they claimed an early lead for the fourth successive game, too, even if this performance was slightly more sluggish than the previous three in that respect.

Against Leicester City, it took seven minutes for them to score; against Manchester United, it was one; against Southampton it was six, and here it was 19.

Hazard struck in a manner that has become increasingly familiar since the start of the season, cutting in from the left wing and hitting a low, bouncing shot that caught goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg unsighted.

There was a possibility that Pedro was offside, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Chelsea wasted no time extending their advantage, with just 24 seconds of playing time elapsing between their first and second goals.

Conte halted an Everton counter-attack in its tracks and after brilliantly wriggling between two players, Hazard played the ball through to Pedro on the right.

The winger looked to square the ball to Costa, but with the pass arriving slightly behind the striker, the oncoming Alonso roared at him to get out of the way and thundered a shot between Stekelenburg’s legs.