Huddersfield Town 0 Chelsea 3: Maurizio Sarri era begins with Premier League win

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Joe Krishnan11 August 2018

Goals from N'Golo Kante, Jorginho and Pedro ensured Chelsea kicked off Maurizio Sarri's reign with a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium.

Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was making his first start after his £71 million switch from Athletic Bilbao and after a nervy opening, the Spaniard grew with confidence.

But the Blues didn't have it easy and were second-best for much of the first-half as Huddersfield pressed and made life difficult for Sarri's men.

Steve Mounie and Alex Pritchard both had decent chances to break the deadlock but couldn't find the net.

Chelsea went ahead after some excellent work from Willian. The Brazilian fizzed in a cross and at the far post was Kante, who volleyed home just after the half-hour mark to give the away side the lead against the run of play.

It got worse for the hosts, who had responded brightly, on the stroke of half-time when Jorginho - making his Premier League debut - coolly slotted home from the spot after Marcos Alonso was chopped down by Christopher Schindler.

Huddersfield manager David Wagner brought off the impressive Alex Pritchard at half-time and sent on Laurent Depoitre, but the change seemed to harm the home side if anything, as Chelsea were able to control proceedings with more ease in the second-half.

Eden Hazard, who started on the bench having only returned to training on Monday, was brought on with 15 minutes to go and the Belgian made an immediate impact.

The 27-year-old collected the ball near the halfway line and ran through at the Huddersfield defenders, who couldn't decide whether to close him down or back off. Hazard unselfishly laid it off to the Spaniard and his chip over Ben Hamer bounced into the net.

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