Henderson stars as Chelsea humbles Bournemouth
Jordan Henderson scored twice and teed up another as he set Chelsea on its way to a thumping 5-1 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Chelsea only needed three minutes to take a 2-0 lead, with Henderson and Morgan Rogers both scoring early, while Joao Pedro added a third within the first minute of the second half.
Evanilson pulled one back for Bournemouth, but Joao Pedro and Henderson both scored again to earn Chelsea its first top-flight win since the end of August.
Chelsea flew out of the blocks, and Henderson took just 66 seconds to break the deadlock. Cole Palmer, whose new eight-year deal was announced earlier in the day, powered forward before teeing up Henderson for a first-time finish that went in off the post.
Eighty-three seconds after the restart, Chelsea had a second. Pedro Neto was denied by Djordje Petrovic, but the Blues kept it alive, with Henderson helping it to Rogers, who floated a shot into the goal, with Antonio Silva's header helping it over the goalkeeper.
The fast start continued as Bournemouth exploited space down the left, but Rayan was selfish and watched his effort sail into the stands.
Emiliano Martinez ensured Chelsea went into the break with a two-goal cushion, making a double save to keep out Rayan and Ryan Christie just after the half-hour mark before holding Silva's header.
Chelsea wasted no time in the second half. Within 30 seconds, Joao Pedro had the ball in the back of the net after Neto latched on to a poor attempted clearance from Silva.
Bournemouth responded well, exploiting Chelsea's set-piece struggles. Moises Caicedo tried to hook a corner clear, but Evanilson stuck out a leg to send it flying past Martinez 51 minutes in.
It took Joao Pedro just 16 minutes to restore Chelsea's three-goal advantage, with Pep Chavarria taking Bournemouth's defence out of the game with a low cross, and the Brazilian was on hand to turn it in.
Henderson added some late gloss. Palmer won a free-kick, but caught Bournemouth out by not taking it, and Henderson curled it over the wall and past Petrovic at his near post.
Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso hailed his side's attacking players while remaining confident that a clean sheet will come soon.
"I wouldn't say [it was a] crazy [game]," Alonso said.
"We started really well, and the first half was really very serious; we were in good control of the game and even the second [half], we started well, but after conceding, there were 10 minutes where the game could finish in a more close way, but the fourth goal was really important.
"It was a good performance and a good win.
"We need to be complete to have this goal threat. For sure, we have great attackers and players that have control, which is really enjoyable when they want to help their team-mates.
"The clean sheet will come. We were close and had a great lead, but the win with a clean sheet will come."
Henderson was particularly impressive, becoming the oldest Chelsea player, at 36 years and 115 days, to be directly involved in three goals in a Premier League game.
"He's been using this international break to practice the free-kick, and Austin [McPhee, set-piece coach] said he could score, and he did it really well," Alonso said when asked about Henderson.
As for Bournemouth, its wait for a first Premier League win of the season goes on as it remains around the relegation zone.
"It's going to be difficult to get something from the game [after conceding early goals]," manager Marco Rose said.
"It's too much. We knew that Chelsea were going to start well, and we didn't react to it in the right way. It was a really bad performance from us, and we need to react in the next games.
"The last games, we had good performances but struggled in places, but here, we struggled again and had some good situations. Three points out of six games; we need a reaction and a turnaround, and quite soon.
"We need to stay positive, and we have to face the reality, and that's very important."
