Huddersfield Town 1 Chelsea 3: Champions on message as Terriers are outclassed

It was about the only thing any of the visitors got wrong all night as the Terriers were given a footballing lesson by the London club.

On the type of sodden and unwelcoming West Riding night that could have prompted a re-writing of the well-worn football accusation – about fancy dan teams shrinking on a Tuesday night in either Grimsby or Stoke – Antonio Conte’s side made light of the testing conditions to run out comprehensive winners.

Conte himself had sent out a clear message ahead of kick-off by ditching his usual designer suit for a tracksuit and manager’s coat combo more suited to an evening out in the frozen North.

His players got the message, producing a performance long on effort and desire as well as the technical quality usually associated with a team boasting the likes of Eden Hazard, Willian and N’Golo Kante.

First-half strikes from Tiemoue Bakayoko and Willian set the Blues on their way against a Town side who only started to pose any kind of attacking threat once Pedro had added a third goal shortly after the interval.

Laurent Depoitre did reduce the margin of defeat with a stoppage-time strike after Tom Ince and Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen had earlier gone close.

But, in truth, Conte’s men had little trouble in making the John Smith’s Stadium the 50th venue to witness a victory by the Blues in the Premier League era.

Arsenal, one of the three clubs previously to chalk up a half-century along with Manchester United and Liverpool, had been the last reigning champions to visit Huddersfield in the league almost exactly 45 and a half years earlier.

An even deeper delve back into history, however, was required for the last time a holder of the league championship pennant had lost in the town, Wolverhampton Wanderers suffering that fate in 1954.

There was never any chance of Chelsea following suit last night with their dominance being such that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was reduced to little more than a spectator until Huddersfield’s late attacking flurry.

Town, to their credit, were tight and compact. Jonathan Hogg, hugely impressive in Saturday’s victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, was so deep at times that he often found himself in between central defensive pair Christopher Schindler and Jorgensen.

Aaron Mooy and Danny Williams had also clearly been detailed to drop deep, and with Elias Kachunga and Ince also consumed with defensive duties the visitors were invariably met with a wall of blue and white shirts. With space so precious, it quickly became clear either something special from Chelsea would be needed to break the deadlock or a mistake by the hosts. By half-time, the Blues had benefited from both.

First, Jonas Lossl rolled a short pass to Jorgensen from a goal-kick. It is a tactic Huddersfield employ from time to time in the hope of drawing out the opposition. This time, however, the return ball was followed by Lossl slipping as he attempted to clear.

The ball arrowed straight to Victor Moses, whose deft header to Eden Hazard set Chelsea on their way. A slipped pass to Willian was followed by Bakayoko being set free to dink a delightful shot over Lossl and in despite the best efforts of Chris Lowe.

Chelsea’s second goal arrived two minutes before the break courtesy of a flowing move that saw Cesar Azpilicueta spread play to Marcos Alonso on the left flank. His floated cross then caught out the Town back-line and Willian, ghosting in behind Lowe, headed in from close range.

After that, the night was all about damage limitation for Huddersfield. Chelsea, however, had other ideas as Pedro added a third just five minutes after the restart.

Again Alonso caused the initial problem with a searching left-wing cross that Willian controlled before deftly laying the ball into the path of his team-mate.

Town’s response was finally to start to ask questions of the visitors. First, Ince raced through a gap in the Blues’ defence before lifting a shot that cleared Courtois, but not Christensen.

Then, after the ball broke to Jorgensen 30 yards from goal, the Danish international unleashed a shot that Courtois was happy to see fly just over his crossbar.

Laurent Depoitre then twice went close at the close before heading in Florent Hadergjonaj’s cross to, at least, ensure the night ended on something of a positive for the Terriers.

Huddersfield Town: Lossl; Smith, Jorgensen, Schindler, Lowe (Hadergjonaj 66); Williams, Hogg (Whitehead 46); Mooy; Kachunga, Mounie (Depoitre 74), Ince. Unused substitutes: Coleman, Cranie, Van la Parra, Quaner.

Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, Christensen (Ampadu 79), Rudiger; Moses, Kante (Drinkwater 71), Bakayoko, Alonso; Willian, Hazard (Batshuayi 68), Pedro. Unused substitutes: Caballero, Fabregas, Musonda, Cahill.

Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).