Stamford Bridge barely had time to settle on Saturday before Chelsea had turned the afternoon into a rout. Two goals inside the opening three minutes set Xabi Alonso’s side on their way to a 5-1 Premier League win over Bournemouth, lifting the Blues from 10th to fifth after six rounds.
Jordan Henderson, 36, opened the scoring with a finely struck angled finish in the third minute, and Morgan Rogers immediately doubled the advantage with a clever effort taken without a backlift. Chelsea’s early attacking force again stood out, although their long wait for a league clean sheet continued; their most recent shutout in the competition dates back to 17 January.
Joao Pedro made it 3-0 just after half-time, converting Pedro Neto’s delivery in the 46th minute. Bournemouth found a response five minutes later through Evanilson, whose goal came from a chaotic sequence, but Chelsea quickly restored control.
Pep Chavarria supplied Joao Pedro for his second goal in the 67th minute, before Henderson completed his own brace three minutes later with an excellent free-kick. The result leaves Chelsea three points behind Brighton, who maintained an unexpected third-place position with a 2-0 victory at Sunderland.
Brighton hold firm, while Villa stumble again
Brighton won despite spending a long spell with 10 men. Maxim De Cuyper broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute, before Pascal Struijk was sent off four minutes later after bringing down Wilson Isidor as the Sunderland forward headed towards goal.
The Seagulls held their advantage and sealed the points in added time, with Jaouen Hadjam finishing in the 93rd minute after an impressive assist from Georginio Rutter.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa’s difficult opening to the campaign continued as they were held 2-2 at home by Brentford. Promoted Ipswich, meanwhile, collected another encouraging result by beating Fulham 2-1. Captain Dara O’Shea scored the decisive goal in the first minute of stoppage time, the ball going in off his back, to move the Tractor Boys into ninth place despite pre-season expectations of a hard fight for survival.
