Hull City 2-3 Chelsea - 5 talking points

Hull City and Chelsea played out a thrilling match at the KC Stadium in one of the two evening starts on Sunday, with Chelsea emerging winners by a score line of 3-2. Eden Hazard opened the scoring with a crisp strike in the 2nd minute of the game and Diego Costa doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 8th minute. Hull City bounced back with 2 goals in 2 minutes, the second courtesy of a Thibaut Courtois howler which Abel Hernandez capitalized on.However, it was Loic Remy who sealed off the match for Chelsea, scoring from close range off his first touch of the match after coming on for Diego Costa in the 75th minute.Here are the major talking points from the game:

#1 A mixed day for Courtois

Touted as one of the best goalkeepers in the EPL, Thibaut Courtois had a mixed day he would rather wish to forget. In spite of a good start to the match that saw him deny Abel Hernandez’s close range 1-on-1 strike, Courtois made a howler to help Hull equalise the Chelsea lead.

He should have cleared the ball quickly rather than going for a cheeky turn that saw him getting caught out by Hernandez who slotted in with a good finish.

Even though Courtois ended on a good note with a triple save and a few good catches, the howler would be at the back of his mind long after the match. Even Jose Mourinho will have a bit of thinking to do about starting Courtois the next time around, especially given that Petr Cech has kept 5 clean-sheets in 5 premier league appearances this season.

#2 Hull City players put up a brave fight

After conceding two goals as early as in the 9th minute, it seemed like the game was over for Hull City. However, they fought back bravely and gave Chelsea a run for their money. One look at the stats reveals that it was not an easy visit to the KC Stadium for the league leaders. Hull had 19 attempts on goal and 8 shots on target in comparison to Chelsea’s 8 attempts and 3 shots on target.

On several occasions, it seemed like Hull could create an upset, but the players could not capitalize enough.

With Hull still at 15th in the table and just 3 points away from the relegation zone, the recent upturn in their form is promising for Steve Bruce’s side.

#3 Dame N\'Doye looks key for Hull

Even though it was Abel Hernandez who equalised for Hull, it is their other striker, Dame N’Doye, that looks key to their premier league hopes. Signed on the deadline day of the winter transfer window from Lokomotiv Moscow, the Senegalese International has given Hull City a new lease of life.

Against Chelsea, he had no goals or assists to show, but kept troubling the Chelsea backline with 3 attempts of which 2 were on target, played 3 key passes and won 4 of his aerial duels.

In his debut season, N’Doye has impressed everyone especially with his ball control and positioning and in the process has scored 3 goals and assisted once from his 5 starts so far.

With Nikica Jelavic out for almost 6 weeks after undergoing a knee surgery, N’Doye looks extremely instrumental for Hull’s survival. And if he does manage to guide Hull to safety, a very promising next season waits for the Senegalese striker.

#4 Will Fabregas face another season-end slump?

Cesc Fabregas’ form in the first half of the season was quite amazing. Even though his scoring rate is below par this year (0.08 per 90 minutes) in comparison to his time at FC Barcelona (0.29 per 90 minutes in 2013/14 and 0.43 per 90 minutes in 2012/13), the Spaniard has topped the assists table by quite a long margin.

However Fabregas’ form has dipped in recent games and against Hull City even though he had an assist to his name, he was nowhere near his best.

In the last few seasons, Fabregas has inclined towards a slump in form in the second half of the season and this would be a huge concern for Mourinho, who would be definitely hoping his midfield admiral would be back to his best as soon as possible.

#5 Chelsea edging closer to league title

Despite the scare, Chelsea did finally manage to squeeze out all three points out of the match and regained their 6 point lead over second placed Manchester City, with a game in hand. Even though their defence was tested on several occasions and need to be worked on, their clinical performance in front of the box was perfect once again as they finished off all the 3 shots they had on target.

With just 8 games to go, Chelsea relatively have easier fixtures against Stoke City, QPR, Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland to follow and if they can manage the matches against Arsenal and Manchester United, it is safe to say that Chelsea is slowly edging towards their first league title in 5 years.