LoicRémy gave Chelsea a vital victory in their pursuit of a first PremierLeague title in five years, as Chelsea beat Hull 3-2 at the KC Stadium.
Thevisitors raced into a two-goal lead inside nine minutes, as Eden Hazard openedthe scoring with a marvellous 20-yard left-footed strike after just 87 seconds.This was the Belgian winger’s 16th goal of the season in allcompetitions. Then Chelsea doubled theirlead in the ninth minute, when Diego Costa, coming down the left-flank, scoredhis 20th league goal of the season with a fine finessed finishinside Alan McGregor’s far post.
At thispoint Chelsea looked to be cruising, but unfortunately they controversiallythrew away a two-goal lead, and the home side stunned the visitors by replyingwith two quick-fire goals 74 seconds apart, in the 26th and 28thminutes. Hull's Scottish left-back Andy Robertson evaded Branislav Ivanovicand Willian on Chelsea’s right-flank, to cross an excellent ball into the corridorof death, which Ahmed Elmohamady reached to stroke in, to ignite a comebackfrom the Tigers.
Therevelation of the season, Chelsea’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, thenmade a gaffe when a poor Ivanovic’s back pass was rolled to him, and he wasunable to clear the ball with his right foot. He tried with his left, only forthe ball to take a heavy touch and go straight to Abel Hernandez - who made upfor his earlier missed chance to stroke the ball into a gaping net for a shock2-2 scoreline.
The second-half proved to be a tense affair, asCourtois atoned for his earlier error, with perhaps the goalkeeping moment offthe season, when he made a terrific triple save to keep the scores level. TheTigers then dominated Chelsea, who scored with all three of their shots ontarget in the match, as Rémy was sent on to replaced injured Costa.
The substitute then snatched all three pointsfor the West-Londoners in the 77th minute, as his scuffed effort luckilywent through the legs of McGregor. The Blues restored their six point lead overManchester City and retained a game in hand over their rivals.
