Chelsea condemned defending Premier League champions Leicester to a fourth consecutive away defeat with a dominant display at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues were ahead inside seven minutes when Nemanja Matic flicked on Eden Hazard’s corner for Diego Costa to smash home.
A David Luiz free-kick struck the post, before Pedro played in Hazard, who rounded Kasper Schmeichel to slot in.
Luiz hit his own post when clearing a cross, but Victor Moses’ finish after a one-two with substitute Nathaniel Chalobah completed the scoring.
Leicester, who left Riyad Mahrez on the bench for the first time in 36 league games, failed to register a shot on target as they struggled to cope against Chelsea’s aggressive pressing and quick passing.
Defeat leaves Claudio Ranieri’s side with eight points from their first eight games – the joint second lowest haul by a defending Premier League champion, along with Chelsea’s team of last season.
Since joining Chelsea from Leicester this summer, N’Golo Kante has found himself doing slightly less of the defensive work that established him as such a prized midfielder at the King Power Stadium.
But he continues to enjoy the gift of being in the right place at the right time and this was another excellent performance from the France international – who is clearly missed by Claudio Ranieri’s side.
However, much of Chelsea’s success in stifling the visitors came courtesy of their wing-backs. When Marcos Alonso – making his home debut – harried Danny Drinkwater high up the pitch to win the ball back and deliver a dangerous low cross, he was repeating the pattern set by Moses on the opposite right flank.
Instead we saw the other side of Kante’s game. The 25-year-old would have scored Chelsea’s third had it not been for Foxes captain Wes Morgan, who made a brilliant block after a Costa cross spilled off Schmeichel’s legs to leave the goalmouth exposed.
And his perfectly weighted through ball deserved a better finish from Moses, who eventually did settle the points for certain when latching on to a delightful flick by 21-year-old English midfielder Chalobah – making his senior home debut after six loan spells away from the club.
On Thursday, several bookmakers suspended betting on Chelsea boss Conte being the next Premier League manager to lose his job.
The Italian laughed off the rumours in his news conference on Friday -“I am trying to find out who put the money on” – but some may have wondered if there would be a sign of weakness in his side’s performance.
There was not. Chelsea began with real swagger and Costa’s early goal was the end product. The Premier League’s top scorer gambled on a late move to the back post and, as Morgan did not stay with him, was left with an easy finish for his seventh of the campaign. It took the 28-year-old Spain striker until January to reach that total last season.
The dipping Luiz free-kick that crashed against the post would have been a fitting second, so when Hazard found himself through on goal after a slightly lucky bounce it was hard to deny a 2-0 lead was deserved. The Belgium winger showed superb composure for his third goal from eight matches this season – compared to four from 31 last term.
And one of the finest flourishes came from Conte himself. There was a huge round of cheers from the home crowd when he brilliantly trapped a misplaced long pass that plummeted down into his technical area.
The fans will have found it hard not to have been incredibly impressed by their team’s performance – especially after what they witnessed over 2015-16.
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