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Chelsea’s Loïc Rémy snatches win after Hull fightback rattles leaders | Chelsea’s Loïc Rémy snatches win after Hull fightback rattles leaders |
(about 1 hour later) | |
It is now surely José Mourinho’s Premier League title to lose after Loïc Rémy ironed out a bump on the road for Chelsea with the late winner. | |
Six points and a game in hand over their nearest challengers, the characteristics of their play at both ends of this victory bode well – two quality goals in the opening 10 minutes and a clinical purloining of the points with less than a quarter of an hour remaining – their subservience to a spirited Hull in between forgotten as they enter the international break. | |
Pegged back by a draw against Southampton seven days previously, recent history threatened to repeat itself before Rémy replaced Diego Costa a quarter of an hour from the end and scuffed in the winner off Allan McGregor’s boots a couple of minutes later to provide Chelsea with what Mourinho described as their most dominant position of the campaign. | |
“The title race should be over. In normal conditions Chelsea should have eight to 10 points more than we have and it’s over. But the reality is we have a six points lead which is our best situation for the whole season because the maximum distance we had was eight with 20 matches to go,” said Mourinho, whose side also have a game in hand, against bottom club Leicester. “I am pretty confident. I believe in my players.” | |
Chelsea certainly started and finished like champions. Within 10 minutes they had made a mockery of Hull’s relatively sound defence – at kick-off no team outside the top six had conceded fewer than their 37 goals – with a couple of imperious finishes. | |
The first, dispatched from 20 yards by Eden Hazard’s left boot, owed to a combination of home hesitancy once Costa’s muscular lay-off cushioned the ball into the Belgian’s path. Allowed to proceed unopposed in a central position, Hazard gave McGregor no chance with a shot that arrowed inside the upright. | |
The second, emanating from Hull’s gifting of possession midway inside their own half, was equally clinical and nestled in a similar place in the net. Cesc Fàbregas threaded a pass into Costa’s stride and although the angle was difficult on the left side of the area, the use of Michael Dawson as a shield to unsight McGregor, and the accuracy of the curling effort combined for his 19th league goal of the season. | |
If the finish was typical Costa, so unfortunately were the second-half antics in which his elbow appeared to connect with Jake Livermore during a prolonged tussle between the pair at a corner. However, there were no gripes from the Hull camp post-match, with their manager Steve Bruce claiming not to have witnessed it. | |
However, a recurrence of Costa’s hamstring injury trouble may mean further reliance on Rémy. “When a guy with a lot of hamstring injuries says with 15 minutes to go it’s over for him, it’s over for him. He has this problem. He tried to play the Champions League final with Atlético and was injured again, and again, and again. He has this fragility so we know this hamstring is not a strong one,” said Mourinho, who dismissed any notion of surgery. | |
Like Hazard, who made it three in three, Rémy has a good scoring record against Hull and it was therefore no surprise he popped up to steer in Willian’s low centre from the right a dozen minutes after Thibaut Courtois’ act of redemption –- a triple save foiling Ahmed Elmohamady, Livermore and Gastón Ramírez shots in the space of five seconds. | |
“At half-time I told the players there was no point in analysing details and mistakes of the first half. The team felt deeply the 2-2 but the first minute of the second half they went back to quality football, to creation and I knew sooner or later the goal should arrive,” Mourinho said. | |
Hull’s comeback had been down to the tactical touchline scheming of Bruce and his recently-arrived assistant Mike Phelan midway through the first half. Having started with the 3-5-2 formation that had resulted in nine points being collected from their previous six matches, one of their central defenders was sacrificed, Dame N’Doye redeployed on the left flank and Ramírez wedged between a four-man midfield and his fellow Uruguayan, Abel Hernández, up front. | |
It worked a treat as a double strike – the fastest two goals by a side in the top flight this season – had the KC Stadium rocking. Scotland full-back Andrew Robertson was the creator of the first as his burst past Willian and through Branislav Ivanovic preceded a centre that Elmohamady converted from six yards. Then came Courtois’ blunder on the Humber. Ivanovic appeared to have tidied up another Hull attack with a back pass but Ramírez’s refusal to give up a lost cause induced panic and a heavy touch was pounced upon by Hernández. | |
Ultimately, their endeavour proved futile, although Bruce sought succour in the performance of his team, who sit three points above the drop zone but have a daunting conclusion to the season: they play five of the top seven. | |
“That’s as good as we’ve played for a long, long time, against the best team in England. We are obviously disappointed in the manner we’ve lost but we’ve created umpteen opportunities, and … the big turning point was the three saves by Courtois in quick succession,” said Bruce. |