Romelu Lukaku ended his long wait for a Stamford Bridge goal for Chelsea with the opener against Aston Villa on Saturday.
The Belgian was his typically clinical self as latched onto a ball from Mateo Kovacic, then cut inside of Villa defender Axel Tuanzebe before firing low past Jed Steer to give the Blues the lead.
Kovacic himself doubled the lead in the second half before Lukaku scored again to round off proceedings late on and seal an emphatic victory for Thomas Tuchel’s men.
The first goal was arguably the most pivotal for the hosts, though, as it not only opened the scoring, but also saw Lukaku get on the scoresheet at Stamford Bridge for the first time as a Blue over two spells.
Whilst he might well have felt a burden to score his first goal on home soil following his club-record move from Inter Milan this summer, the striker has explained that his past experiences with Tuanzebe at Manchester United assisted him in being able to find the net.
Talking to Sky Sports following the victory, he said: “It’s something the coach was saying when we recover the ball, we had to play forward very quick, Kova [Kovacic] with his quality I wasn’t doubting him, I just made the run and he made the brilliant pass.
“When I got the ball [decided to cut onto right foot] I played with Tuanzebe back in the day, he knows I was left-footed I felt like I had to chop there.”
Lukaku doubled up his evening’s work in the second half as he thundered home a second.
He suggested that the power of the strike gave him an indication that he had earned himself a brace.
The striker continued: “Yeah [knew it was in soon as it left his boot] connection was good, cleanly. Got it out my feet cleanly, a lot of finishing quickly, quick touches and you know that’s just pure training.”
Since moving back to west London, Lukaku has notched three Premier League goals, with only West Ham United’s Michail Antonio having scored more with four.
