Chelsea are so dangerous even when Diego Costa and Eden Hazard are kept quiet, Jose Mourinho should sign John Terry and Antonio Conte is substitute king
The Blues swatted Everton aside with three goals from Pedro, Gary Cahill and Willian and a tactical masterclass from Antonio Conte
CHELSEA took another massive step to the Premier League title with a 3-0 win over Everton that piled the pressure on Tottenham ahead of their north London derby with Arsenal.
Even when star forwards Eden Hazard and Diego Costa are well marked and don't score, they have other stars ready and willing to step up to the plate and deliver.
Antonio Conte used his whole Chelsea squad to perfection again, here are five things we learnt from the battle at Goodison Park:
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Idrissa Gueye might have found the best way to stop Eden Hazard
EDEN Hazard was in the Lille youth and first teams between 2005-2012 while Idrissa Gueye was there between the reserves and Ligue 1 side from 2008-2015, so they had plenty to catch up on.
Sky cameras and pundit Gary Neville noted the Toffees’ defensive midfielder and Chelsea playmaker were constantly chatting to each other and if it was a ruse from Everton it worked.
Hazard was his usual skilful self and threated with his corners but Gueye prevented him from being the match winner like he was in previous outings against Tottenham and Southampton.
Jose Mourinho should sign John Terry
THE Manchester United boss seems deeply unhappy with the commitment of his two injured centre-backs, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, who he seems to think could play through their current injuries.
If there is a defender in Premier League history who has made an art out of defying medical science, it is the Chelsea captain.
If Frank Lampard can score against the Blues for Manchester City and Petr Cech can keep goal for Arsenal – and retain their legendary Chelsea status – there is no reason Terry cannot reunite with Mourinho.
In a back four with the athletic power of Eric Bailly alongside him, Terry could certainly do a job and there will be plenty of games for United if they return to the Champions League next season.
Plenty of clubs are after Terry – Bournemouth, West Ham and Swansea – but a move to United seems to be the only one that would not be an obvious step down.
And, if Mourinho wants to lay down a marker for next season, then installing his favourite lieutenant in his dressing room would be a huge statement.
Antonio Conte did not even name Terry on the bench for Sunday’s game with Everton and this underwhelming end to his Chelsea career could inspire him even more for the next campaign.
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Hazard as a decoy is just as dangerous as a match-winner
EVERTON deserved plenty of credit for keeping Hazard quiet and frustrating Diego Costa.
But the Toffees discovered that, when you stick close to one of these Chelsea stars, another one will usually punish you.
All the hard work put in to stifle Antonio Conte’s two biggest danger men was undone when inconspicuous Pedro smashed home a stunning long-range drive.
It still seems we have not seen the absolute best of the former Barcelona man yet but more time in the team, under the Italian boss, is likely to take him up another level.
Maarten Stekelenburg doesn’t shift his feet as well as he shifts blame.
THE Everton keeper handed Chelsea their second goal, to kill off the game, and instead of holding his hands up for parrying the ball on to Gary Cahill, he blamed Idrissa Gueye.
The Dutch keeper didn’t want to be the fall guy for Chelsea’s second so he berated the midfielder, perhaps for blocking his view of Hazard’s brilliantly whipped delivery.
Gueye had done a fine job man-marking Hazard up to that point and didn’t deserve a mouthful from the former Fulham man.
No manager in the Premier League is using his bench better than Antonio Conte
Eden Hazard and Diego Costa had brilliant reactions to being dropped to the bench for the huge Tottenham clash.
Spurs were put to the sword 4-2 and then Southampton suffered an identical scoreline with the Belgian and Spain international looking even more fresh and alert.
And on Sunday the Italian worked his magic again with two late subs that twisted the screw.
Cesc Fabregas was sent on after 82 minutes and Willian joined him three minutes later and they combined almost instantly to score Chelsea’s third goal.
In a lot of other teams, under many different managers, these huge stars might be unhappy with their rotation.
But Conte’s Chelsea squad is firing on all cylinders right now and is likely to get improved even further in the summer.