Chelsea 3 Leicester City 0
Chelsea cruised past the defending Premier League champions thanks to goals from Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Victor Moses.
It took them just seven minutes to open the scoring, an unmarked Costa side-footing through Kasper Schmeichel’s dive.
Hazard converted the second after Pedro’s flick had fallen kindly to him, and Moses added a third late on after a glorious one-two with substitute Nathaniel Chalobah.
With one eye on their Champions League tie on Tuesday, Leicester omitted Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani and as a result looked a shadow of last season’s title-winning side.
Chelsea, meanwhile, resisted the temptation to recall John Terry after injury – he was one of five home-grown players on the bench as Antonio Conte stuck with three at the back.
It was a formation that paid dividends as Marcos Alonso and Moses thrived in the wide areas – but Chelsea’s opener owed a lot to poor Leicester defending as Wes Morgan lost track of Costa, and the striker latched on to Nemanja Matic’s flick from Hazard’s corner.
The second goal was a combination of brilliant improvisation and a stroke of good fortune, as a falling Pedro flicked the ball towards Hazard – the ball bounced off the Belgian’s back and into his path, allowing him to sidestep Schmeichel and slide the ball home.
David Luiz hit the upright and forced Schmeichel into a save from two free-kicks, but in the second half the post came to his aid as he almost turned a cross into his own net.
Leicester were limited, aside from a spell of 15 minutes early in the second half when they looked bright without ever really testing Thibaut Courtois in the home goal.
Conversely, Chelsea remained a threat on the break – Schmeichel made a good save low to his right to deny Moses after tireless running from N’Golo Kante against his old club.
But they wrapped things up 10 minutes from time when Chalobah backheeled a return pass into Moses, who finished clinically.
Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses (Aina 81), Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro (N. Chalobah 68), Costa, Hazard (Loftus-Cheek 81).
Subs not used: Begovic, Terry, Solanke, Batshuayi.
This post was last modified on 15/10/2016