NBC on Yahoo SportsSwansea City 0-5 Chelsea: Costa and Oscar call Wales home for a day
Chelsea bagged four goals before halftime at the Liberty Stadium, thumping Swansea City 5-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Diego Costa scored a pair for the Blues, as did Oscar. Andre Schurrle added a fifth as Chelsea opened up a five-point lead on Manchester City, which hosts Arsenal on Sunday.
Swansea stays in ninth, but sees its goal differential take a big hit.
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Oscar kept up his hot form inside of the first minute, as Gylfi Sigurdsson’s close-range, chest-level pass put Tom Carroll in a terrible spot. Carroll chose not to handle the ball 10 yards outside the 18, and Oscar latched onto the loose ball and pounded it across goal. Fabianski had little chance.
Chelsea almost found Goal No. 2 in minute 13, when Fabianski couldn’t hold a well-hit strike. Willian blasted the rebound over the bar, however, to the relief of the home crowd.
Eden Hazard was the next to almost find the score sheet, but his dribbling wizardry ended with Fabianski pushing away his left-footed shot.
The relief lasted a solid 30 seconds, as Costa buried a goal to make it 2-0 to the visitors. Cesc Fabregas slipped the ball between a pair of Swans, and Costa had far too much time to pick a place to score from close to the spot.
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The floodgates poured forth in the 34th minute, when Federico Fernandez hit an inch-perfect through ball to Costa that sent the striker 1v1 with Fabianski. Less than a minute later, an odd-man rush allowed Costa to lay off for Oscar, who made it a pair of Blues with braces.
It should’ve been 5-0 when Costa created a clean break before halftime, but Willian cranked his empty net attempt off the crossbar. Garry Monk must’ve been pleading for halftime.
The second half didn’t find much offense, but substitute Schurrle tapped home within minutes of subbing on to give the visitors a fifth.
Lineups
Swansea City: Fabianski, Tiendalli, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Carroll, Sigurdsson, Dyer, Oliveira, Routledge (Emnes, 32′), Gomis
Subs: Tremmel, Rangel, Amat, Bartley, Fulton, Emnes, Barrow
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis; Matic, Fabregas (Ramires, 75′); Willian (Schurrle, 76′), Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa (Remy, 75′)
Goal: Oscar 2 (1′, 36′), Costa 2 (20′, 34′), Schurrle (79′)
