Chelsea held off a battling Norwich City at Carrow Road on Tuesday to seal a 2-1 win and stretch their unbeaten run to 12 games.
The Blues went ahead through Kenedy as the Brazilian scored the fastest goal of the Barclays Premier League inside the first 39 seconds, and Diego Costa doubled their lead right on half time in controversial fashion as he appeared to be offside.
Kennedy, 20, who started the game as a makeshift left-back, carved his name in the history books with a fantastic finish just one second before the 40-seconds mark.
The Brazilian picked up a pass from Eden Hazard – drifted to his right and back to his favourite left foot before hammering a low shot into the goal to put Chelsea a goal up.
His strike at Carrow Road smashes the previous record by 10 seconds – scored by Bournemouth star, Matt Ritchie, in the 5-1 home defeat to Manchester City in October.
West Ham’s Enner Valencia, James Milner of Liverpool and Tottenham’s Dele Alli completes the top five fastest goals this season.
The overall record for the quickest goal in Premier League history is still held by former Spurs skipper Ledley King.
King struck just 10 seconds after kick-off to put the North London club in front against Bradford City over 15 years ago.
Apart from his masterclasss at Norwich, Kenedy has only managed one goal in eight appearances this season.
Norwich improved in the second half as Cameron Jerome went close on several occasions but Nathan Redmond’s strike proved to be nothing more than a consolation as Chelsea held on for the win.
With yet another three points Guus Hiddink’s side are now in eight place on 39 points and haven’t loss since Jose Mourinho was fired in December.
Norwich slip into the drop zone on goal difference as Alex Neil ‘s men put in a valiant display but lost for the seventh time in their last eight outings.
Elsewhere, Leicester City dropped two priceless points in their quest for the Premier League title after being held to a 2-2 draw at home by West Brom.
The Foxes are three points clear of second-placed Tottenham, who go to West Ham on Wednesday, after being frustrated by the battling Baggies.
Goals from midfield duo Danny Drinkwater and Andy King cancelled out Salomon Rondon’s early opener before Craig Gardner’s classy free-kick earned a point for Albion.
Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki hit the bar for the hosts, who were the better side, and Wes Morgan blew a glorious chance to win it late on.
Claudio Ranieri’s side will now face an anxious wait when Spurs go to Upton Park, where a win for their title rivals will be enough to send them top on goal difference.
