Bournemouth 1-4 Chelsea: Cesc Fabregas in master act as Eden Hazard returns with a brace

Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard inspired Chelsea to a comfortable victory at Bournemouth.

Fabregas set Chelsea’s first three goals and Hazard scored twice as the Blues cruised to a 4-1 win at the Vitality Stadium.

Bournemouth, who stunned Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in December, started well.

But they fell behind after five minutes when Pedro finished off swift Chelsea counter-attack involving Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Fabregas.

Fabregas then teed up Hazard to fire in Chelsea’s second from 20 yards on 34 minutes with a clever back-heel.

Bournemouth hit back with an instant reply two minutes later when Tommy Elphick headed in Simon Francis’s cross to make it 2-1.

But Willian, from another Fabregas pass, and Hazard, from Nemanja Matic’s cross, wrapped up Chelsea’s win with second half goals..

Here are 5 things we learned:

Fabulous Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas has remembered how to play football again after admitting this week that he forgot in the final months of Jose Mourinho’s reign.

He put on a midfield masterclass against Bournemouth. His passing was excellent and he set up three of Chelsea’s four goals.

His return to form has come too late for Chelsea as their season is over but is good news for Spain ahead of the Euros.

Reuters / Peter Nicholls

Begovic audition

If Asmir Begovic has two games to prove he could replace Thibaut Courtois if the Belgian leaves, as has been suggested, this was not a good start.

The Bosnian – in for the banned Courtois – looked shaky all afternoon, especially with his kicking, and having made a meal of dealing with Marc Pugh’s cross was then too slow to react and deal with Tommy Elphick’s header which crept in off the post.

Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs

Drought over for Hazard

Eden Hazard marked his return from injury with a goal. Incredibly it was his first in the league all season, a stat that sums up the 2014/15 double player of the year’s rapid decline.

Not only that, it was his first in open play for Chelsea for over a year.

His only other two Chelsea goals this season were a penalty at MK Dons and free-kick against Manchester City, both in the FA Cup.

Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs

Flexible Mikel

Jon Obi Mikel was an attacking midfielder in his early years before developing into a defensive midfielder in his senior career.

And he showed his versatility again by filling in as a centre-back against Bournemouth, filling in for the ill Gary Cahill.

He had a few awkward moments against tricky customers Joshua King and Lewis Grabban but some good ones too.

AFP/Getty

Bournemouth’s survival

They are almost safe but Eddie Howe won’t be satisfied a job very well done is done until it is mathematically confirmed.

After this defeat they are 11 points clear of the drop zone with three games to play.

They could still be caught by Sunderland who have five games to play.

It is unlikely but Howe won’t be happy until survival is clinched and nor will he be by his side’s form. This was a fourth defeat in five matches.

Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs

Player ratings

Bournemouth : Boruc 6; Francis 6, Elphick 7, Cook 7, Daniels 6; Surman 6, Gosling 6; Stanislas 6 (Ritchie 78, 6), Grabban 5 (Afobe 63, 6), Pugh 6; King 7 (Wilson 63, 5).

Unused : Federici, MacDonald, Wiggins, O’Kane.

Chelsea : Begovic 5; Azpilicueta 6, Ivanovic 6, Mikel 6, Rahman 5; Fabregas MOTM 9, Matic 6; Pedro 7, Willian 7 (Loftus-Cheek 83, 5), Hazard 7; Costa 6.

Unused : Amelia, Miazga, Kenedy, Traore, Pato, Falcao.