Full time: Chelsea 2-1 Stoke City
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeep! It’s all over. They made heavy enough weather of it, but Chelsea have held on to win and secure three points that take them seven points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand. Eden Hazard opened the scoring, only for Charlie Adam to equalise with a super piece of improvisation from inside his own half. Loic Remy restored Chelsea’s lead after Hazard had capitalised on a mix-up between Asmir Begovic and Steven N’Zonzi. It wasn’t all good news for Chelsea, however: Diego Costa limped off with a serious looking hamstring problem and may well be out for the rest of the season.
90+3 min: Stoke chalk up their sixth booking of the match. Petyer Crouch has his name taken for a foul on Fabregas. Moments later, Didier Drogba gets booked for a crime I must confess I didn’t see him commit.
90+2 min: Stoke win a throw-in deep in Chelsea territory after Crouch wins another header. The ball’s delivered to the near post, where it’s flicked on. Arnautovic has a swipe but fails to keep his shot down and sends the ball screaming high over the bar. He should have hit the target.
90 min: The ball is pumped long into the Chelsea penalty area in another effort to find Crouch. Again, it’s out of his reach. At the third time of asking, he is finally picked out and wins the header, only to be penalised for offside ... or possibly backing into his defender. There’ll be four minutes of added time.
89 min: Arnautovic whips a cross into the Chelsea penalty area in a bid to find Peter Crouch. |It’s not a bad effort, but the ball is out of the striker’s reach.
87 min: Azpilicueta plays the ball down the inside left to Didier Drogba, who is challenged by Geoff Cameron and wins a throw-in for Chelsea deep in Stoke territory.
86 min: Didier Drogba goes down holding his ankle after a tussle with Shawcross. He looks OK to continue.
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84 min: Jose-watch: such was the Chelsea manager’s frustration at seeing Willian miss that recent double-chance, he appears to have head-butted the ground in frustration. More news on that one as I get it.
83 min: Stoke win a throw-inon the halfway line and chuck the ball back towards Asmir Begovic. He plays it out to Ryan Shawcross, who launches it in the general direction of Peter Crouch.
79 min: Chelsea squander an excellent opportiunity to end this match as a contest when Hazard picks out Cuadrado with a low pull-back, only for the midfielder to shoot straight at Begovic from about five yards. With the goalkeeper sprawling on the ground, the substitute also fails to convert the follow-up shot as he’s foiled by Begovic again. That’s quite the double-save and the excellent build-up play from Hazard, Cuadrado and Willian that led to the scoring opportunity wasn’t too shabby either.
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78 min: Stoke clear Hazard’s corner, but Chelsea retain possession. The excellent Willian is penalised for offside.
78 min: Sloppy play from Marc Wilson sees the ball wend its way to Eden Hazard on the left touchline. He wins a corner. Stoke substitutions: Peter Crouch on for Stephen Ireland, Erik Peters on for Charlie Adam.
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74 min: For all their dominance, Chelsea look anything but home and hosed here and should they fail to score again, it’s not difficult to imagine Stoke catching them with another sucker punch in the final 15 minutes. It’s also not difficult to imagine Stoke finishing the game with 10 or fewer men - five of them are on bookings and at least one - hello Charlie! - might have had two, if not three yellow cards on any other day.
73 min: Willian advances through the centre and plays the ball wide to Hazard on the left. He floats a cross-field pass towards Cuadrado, who promptly loses the ball.
72 min: Stoke substitution I forget to mention a couple of minutes ago: Mame Biram Diouf off, Marko Arnautovic on.
71 min: Willian attempts to pick out Didier Drogba with a low cross towards the near post, but the ball evades the substitute, who’d run into space.
69 min: Playing in a more central role than earlier, Willian attempts to combine with Drogba through the centre while Cuadrado offers support on the right. Stoke stand firm.
67 min: Chelsea have restored their lead, but certainly aren’t having it all their own way. Stoke are playing well here and having a proper go at the league leaders. Philipp Wollscheid becomes the fifth Stoke player to have his name taken by the referee, on this occasion for a foul on Didier Drogba.
66 min: Hazard scampers through the Chelsea penalty area from right to left, then attempts to lay the ball off for Didier Drogba. The Ivorian fails to get off a clean shot on goal.
65 min: Charlie Adam gets booked for screaming in the referee’s face after a decision for a throw-in didn’t go his way.
63 min: Steve N’Zonzi goes close with a decent speculative long range effort which he attempts to place into the bottom left-hand corner from outside the area. Courtois was beaten, but the ball bounced agonisingly wide. Chelsea substitution: Loic Remy has made way after restoring his side’s lead. Juan Cuadrado is on for him.
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GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Stoke (Remy 61)
They’re in a better mood now. Asmir Begovic attempts to roll the ball out to Steven N’Zonzi, but Eden Hazard nips in to intercept his pass and bear down on goal. As Begovic advances, Hazard rolls the ball a couple of yards to his left, where Loic Remy is on hand to roll it into the gaping goal. Oh Asmir.
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59 min: Chelsea’s supporters are getting audibly frustrated, with Stoke’s stubborness, the referee, Diego Costa’s hamstrings and life in general.
Diego Costa twangs his hamstring ...
Oh dear! Just 12 minutes after coming on, the Chelsea substitute pulls up in the Stoke penalty area and immediately signals to the bench that he’ll need to be substituted. His hamstring has gone and he knows it - he lies on his back in the six-yard box, before limping off the field and being escorted to the dressing room by Chelsea’s medical team. I’m no doctor, but I suspect we may not be seeing Mr Costa in a Chelsea shirt again this season. Didier Drogba comes on instead of him.
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55 min: A foul by Stephen Ireland results in a free-kick for Chelsea wide on the left, in line with the side of the penalty area. Willian whips the ball through the corridor of uncertainty between goalkeeper and outfield players and Begovic is forced to make another fine save as the ball threatens to creep past him at the far post. I think it might have come off the head of Glenn Whelan.
52 min: Stoke enjoy a spell of about 45 seconds of uninterrupted possession, which ends when Charlie Adam picks up the ball in midfield and plays it back towards his own goalkeeper this time. Begovic launches it forward and Chelsea win possession.
50 min: Willian drills the ball towards Fabregas on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area, but his attempted lay-off to Remy goes awry, prompting audible groans of frustration in the stands.
49 min: It’s all Chelsea in the early stages of the second half, as they pass and probe, trying to find an opening in a fairly obdurate Stoke defence.
47 min: Chelsea dominate from kick-off and don’t take long to fashion a chance. Eden Hazard brings a smart save out of Asmir Begovic, with a shot from the edge of the penalty area that the goalkeeper is forced to palm over the bar for a corner.
The second half is under way at Stamford Bridge
Stoke City get the ball rolling, with Diego Costa on for Chelsea in place of Oscar.
It’s out to 65 yards now ... It’ll probably be up to 100 by Match of the Day.
Adam's goal was the talk of the press room at half-time. Officially, he was 65 yards from goal when he tried his luck.
— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) April 4, 2015
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More on that Charlie Adam wonder-goal: He picks up the ball in his own half, just outside the centre circle. Glancing up, he sees Thibaut Courtois standing three or four yards outside his penalty area. Adam proceeds to put his left foot through the ball, to send a swerving 59-yard (59 yards) effort sailing over the back-pedalling goalkeeper’s head and into the back of the net. It was an extraordinary, inch-perfect strike by a player who knew exactly what he was doing and the look of total disbelief on Courtois’s face after picking the ball out of the net was comical. If nothing else, it ought to get him on the opening credits of Match of the Day next season.
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What a strike @Charlie26Adam Id need a Driver and 8 iron to hit a ball that far! 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈 Hell of a strike!
— Noel Hunt (@boyhunt) April 4, 2015
Absolute Exocet from Charlie Adams. As good as Beckham's but will never get the same recognition because his brand is not as sexy. #Sexocet
— Danny Baker (@prodnose) April 4, 2015
Half-time: Chelsea 1-1 Stoke City
Chelsea’s almost total first half dominance finally paid off in the 38th minute, when Eden Hazard scored a penalty conceded by Philipp Wollscheid for a rash lunge on Cesc Fabregas. The jig looked up for Stoke, but a wonderful equaliser from Charlie Adam, who scored from well inside his own half, has made it all square at the interval.
45+3 min: Chelsea win a corner, which Willian swings into the mixer. Asmir Begovic deals with it comfortably and the referee blows for the interval.
45+1 min: Reports suggest that several contenders for Goal of the Season were scored in the Premier League today. I haven’t seen them yet, but will be astonished if any are as good as that audacious piece of improvisation from Charlie Adam.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Stoke City (Adam 44)
Charlie Adam scores a quite sensational goal from inside his own half, spotting Thibaut Courtois off his line and chipping the back-pedalling Chelsea goalkeeper with an effort from a yard or two outside his own team’s half of the centre-circle. Brilliant stuff!
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41 min: There’s a pause in play as Cesc Fabregas gets treatment for a bloody and possibly broken nose. He’s gushing claret and looking very sorry for himself after sustaining a whack. He retreats to the touchline for some more attention, then quickly returns to action. He did very well to win that penalty, sensing Wollscheid behind him and anticipating the challenge, playing the ball away from himself and drawing the foul.
39 min: Well, you didn’t need to be Mystic Meg to predict that goal was coming, although Hazard may have caused palpitations among some supporters with the apparently cavalier manner he went about his business of scoring from 12 yards. Pausing ever so slightly in his run-up, he waited for Begovic to dive before coolly rolling the ball down the middle and into the back of the net.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Stoke City (Hazard 38pen)
Eden Hazard converts from the spot to put Chelsea a goal up.
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Penalty for Chelsea ...
Philipp Wollscheid dives in to trip Cesc Fabregas just outside the six-yard box after the Spaniard had picked up a pass from Willian.
36 min: Chelsea win another corner and once again take it quickly, almost catching Stoke’s defence unawares. They manage to regroup in time to clear their lines.
35 min: Chelsea continue to turn the screw, ratcheting the pressure up on Stoke, whose defence looks likely to buckle sooner rather than later. They’re really under the cosh.
34 min: Nemanja Matic tries to fire a shot goalwards from the left-hand side of the Stoke penalty area, but finds a thicket of defenders blocking the ball’s path to goal.
32 min: Free-kick for Chelsea, which WIllian takes. The ball zooms over the bar.
31 min: Ryan Shawcross gets booked for a body-check on Oscar.
30 min: Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Chelsea attempt to “Arsenal” their way through the Stoke defensive ranks with a series of sublime one-touch passes, the pick of which is Willian’s to Hazard in the penalty area. He picks out Oscar, only for the wee Brazilian to fire wide of the upright. That would and should have been a sensational goal.
28 min: Chelsea are mullering Stoke here, but looking vulnerable on the counter-attack and lacking in end product thus far. A constant menace on the fringes of the Stoke penalty area, Eden Hazard tries his luck with a low daisy-cutter which takes a slight deflection. Asmir Begovic dives to make the save.
27 min: With Stoke on the counter-attack, Charlie Adam swings a decent cross into the penalty area, but Chelsea clear. The ball comes to Steven N’Zonzi, who tries to curl a long=range effort into the top corner. His effort is wide, but not by much.
26 min: Glenn Whelan gets booked for a late challenge on Cesc Fabregas.
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25 min: Cesar Azpilicueta attempts to play the ball to Hazard down the touchline, deep in Stoke territory. Geoff Cameron does well to intercept and clear.
23 min: Stoke advance with Mama Biram Diouf playing the ball to Stephen Ireland on halfway and making a run forward. Ireland surveys his options and is eventually forced to play the ball backwards.
22 min: Gary Cahill concedes a free kick wide on the left, over near the touchline about halfway inside the Chelsea half. Charlie Adam curls the ball into the penalty area, but his delivery is poor and the first man clears.
19 min: Willian wins another corner for Chelsea and takes it quickly, playing the ball short to Cesc Fabregas. He picks out Remy, but the striker’s header is weak and off target.
18 min: Chelsea win a corner, which Willian sends into the penalty area. Asmir Begovic comes out to pluck the ball from the sky under pressure and wins a free-kick for infringement.
17 min: Loic Remy tries his luck from about 20 yards, but drags his low shot well wide.
16 min: The lively looking Hazard fires in a cross, which Stoke clear. The Potters advance down the pitch on a rare sortie and get the ball into the Chelsea penalty area, but Stephen Ireland’s weak header doesn’t trouble Thibaut Courtois.
15 min: Oscar picks out Loic Remy in the penalty area with a splendid pass, but the Frenchman’s low diagonal drive towards the near post is saved comfortably by Asmir Begovic.
13 min: Steven N’Zonzi cedes possession to Cesc Fabregas on the edge of the final third and the Spaniard begins an attack that ends with Loic Remy being presented with a decent chance to breach a noticeably jittery Stoke defence. Nothing comes of it.
12 min: Eden Hazard picks up the ball and scampers across the face of the Stoke penalty area before unleashing a fizzing shot that sails high and wide of the Stoke goal. Possession stats: Chelsea 76%-24% Stoke City.
10 min: A Cesar Azpilicueta overlap down the right gives Oscar a bit of space on the ball outside the Stoke penalty area and the crowd urges him to shoot. He duly obliges, but fires his surface to air screamer straight into the face of - I think - Shawcross. Ouch.
9 min: A long cross-field ball sails out of play despite the best attempts of Marc Wilson to keep it in play and Chelsea win a throw-in deep in their own half. Cahill builds from the back, picking out Ivanovic on the right flank.
8 min: Chelsea win a corner off Geoff Cameron, from which nothing comes. Moments later, Loic Remy tries his luck from distance, but sends the ball wide.
6 min: OK, slightly similar. Chelsea are firmly in control in these early stages, although some of their passing in midfield has been a bit sloppy.
5 min: Apologies, it was Loic Remy who took that shot, not Willian. You can probably understand how I got the pair mixed up, as they look very similar.
2 min: In the Stoke goal, Asmir Begovic performs heroics to keep out a Willian shot from just inside the area that took a wicked deflection. The goalkeeper was forced to contort his body and stretch out his right arm to keep the ball out, after Willian had been picked out by Gary Cahill, whose cross was excellent.
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1 min: Stoke have lined up in a 4-4-2, with Mame Biram Diouf tucked in a little behind Jon Walters, who looks resplendent in a transparent protective face mask.
Chelsea v Stoke is under way ...
Chelsea kick-off, playing from left to right in every sense of the word. Their defenders ping the ball over and back across the pitch before hoofing it into Stoke’s half. The visitors go forward and Thibaut Courtois gets an early touch.
Not long now: Led by their respective skippers John Terry and Ryan Shawcross, Chelsea and Stoke make their way out on to the Stamford Bridge sward. Referee Jonathan Moss removes the ball from the ceremonial plinth and the pre-match formalities get under way. Prediction time: I need a Chelsea win to bring home my Saturday afternoon treble, so I’m plumping for a 1-1 draw.
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An email from Lou Roper: “So, according to the Mark Hughes vision of reality, pressure-free Stoke (sitting comfortably in mid-table) could make it nine points out of 105 (as uncovered by intrepid MBM coverage) in their travels to the top sides tonight,” he says. “Or will nothing-to-play-for mid-table Stoke undergo a tonking? No prizes for favouring the latter turn of events, if I may suggest to Mr Hughes.”
Mark Hughes speaks: “We’ve been here in recent times and not really acquitted ourselves very well,” says the Stoke manager. “There’s a little bit of pressure on Chelsea as they try to win the Premier League and we’ll try to capitalise on that. We’ve had a couple of bad results but we played well [in defeat] against Crystal Palace last time out. We’ll try to give them some problems. You need to get a foothold in the game and get some control, but it’s difficult when you’re up against such a good side.”
An interesting stat from Sky: For any Arsenal fans hoping Stoke might do them a favour, this will make for grim reading. Stoke’s form away from home against teams in the top five of the Premier League is atrocious. Out of the last 102 points available on the road against sides currently occupying the top five spots, they’ve won just six. Six!
Jose Mourinho speaks ...
The Chelsea manager uses his pre-match interview to suggest that while Diego Costa is physically fit, he suspects the player might not be mentally right for this evening’s match, as a result of stressing over his taut hamstrings. Hence he takes a place on the bench this evening, where he can be used as back-up if required.
Chelsea v Stoke City line-ups
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Matic, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Remy.
Subs: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Ramires, Drogba, Costa, Cuadrado.
Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Wollscheid, Adam,
Nzonzi, Whelan, Ireland, Walters, Diouf.
Subs: Bardsley, Pieters, Muniesa, Arnautovic, Sidwell, Butland, Crouch.
Referee: Jonathan Moss (W Yorkshire)
Don’t get too excited. This is pretty much what you’d expect.
An early look around Stamford Bridge on matchday... #CFC https://t.co/yZiYpHEEJj
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 4, 2015
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Happy Easter one and all. The Premier League leaders entertain Stoke City at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea hoping to extend their lead at the summit to seven points over Arsenal, who thrashed Liverpool at the Emirates earlier today. The only team in England who are unbeaten at home in the league this season, Chelsea are hot favourites to see off a side with little to play for apart from the scramble to avoid qualification for the Europa League.
Stoke’s manager, Mark Hughes, has never won at Stamford Bridge as a manager and his team arrive on the back of defeats at the hands of West Brom and Crystal Palace. In their final match before the international break, Chelsea laboured to a 3-2 victory over Hull City. For the hosts, Diego Costa’s dicky hamstrings make him a doubt, while loanee Victor Moses will not be featuring for the Potters against his parent club. Kick-off is at 5.30pm (BST), but you ccan join us an hour or so before that for all the team news and build-up.
