Jorginho scores on debut as clinical Chelsea beat Huddersfield

Maurizio Sarri got his Chelsea tenure away to a perfect start with a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town.

A first-half strike from N’Golo Kante and a Jorginho penalty set the Blues on their way before Pedro iced the result with a third late on.

The Blues looked far from comfortable for much of the match, especially in defence as Huddersfield took the contest to Chelsea’s new-look back four, but the result sends Sarri’s men top of the table.

AS IT UNFOLDED: Chelsea 3-0 Huddersfield

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Sarri handed debuts to £71m goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Jorginho, who played alongside Ross Barkley and Kante in a midfield three. Eden Hazard was only fit enough to start on the bench.

For Huddersfield, manager David Wagner named a back five and handed a debut to goalkeeper Ben Hamer who got the nod ahead of last season’s incumbent Jonas Lossl.

Kepa had little to do in the match but he looked at home in the Chelsea goal. He was calm with the ball at his feet and reacted smartly to the danger when a long ball over the top to Steve Mounie had exposed David Luiz.

Sarri’s sides are renowned for their high tempo, high pressing style but it was Huddersfield who made the more confident start. Spurred on by a raucous home crowd at the Kirklees Stadium, the Terriers harried and harassed their more illustrious opponents.

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While Chelsea looked comfortable when they had the ball, passing it around confidently in Huddersfield’s half, in defence it was another story. The Blues’ back four struggled to cope with the Terriers’ long balls behind fullbacks Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta.

It was from one of these counterattacks that Huddersfield had the first real shot on target, as Alex Pritchard stung the palms of Kepa in goal in the 20th minute. Pritchard was Huddersfield’s main attacking threat and only more last-ditch Chelsea defending kept their opponents at bay.

The Blues’ defence was beginning to creak but Huddersfield couldn’t make their pressure count before Kante turned the game on it’s head just after the half hour mark.

Willian did well to get to the byline and his cross from the left found the Chelsea midfielder in space, and Kante made no mistake as he side-footed his volley into the ground, and then into the far corner of Hamer’s goal.

Huddersfield almost hit back immediately when Mounie thumped a header against the woodwork with Kepa a spectator.

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Chelsea had been far from convincing, however with halftime approaching they doubled their lead from the spot.

Neat link up play between Jorginho and Barkley sent Alonso through on goal and as the he pulled the trigger, Christopher Schindler slid in and caught the fullback. Jorginho then calmly slotted the ball to Hamer’s left with the keeper rooted to the spot.

That goal took the wind out of Huddersfield and Wagner made the surprising choice to take off Pritchard and replace him with striker Laurent Depoitre at halftime.

The change didn’t have the desired affect as Huddersfield came out flat and hardly put Chelsea under any pressure as the second half got underway.

In fact, it was Chelsea who almost scored their third when Antonio Rudiger’s header forced a smart save from Hamer low to his left. From the resulting corner Alonso saw his overhead flick hit the bar.

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The Spaniard then had another crack but sent his long-range free kick over.

With 20 minutes to play, Huddersfield finally re-discovered their first-half verve from and began to put the Chelsea defence under pressure.

A dangerous cross from Florent Hadergjonaj just eluded Depoitre and the Belgian then blazed well over when well placed just moments later. Depoitre then completed a hat-trick of chances when his header was comfortably saved by Kepa.

Sarri brought on Hazard from the bench and he was quick to deliver the Coup De Grace with 10 minutes to play. The Belgian lead the break and he fed Pedro in acres down the right and to chip a cool finish over Ben Hamer.