An impressive show of strength from Chelsea. They restore their three-point lead over Manchester City thanks to goals in each half from John Terry and Cesc Fabregas. They were rarely under threat; Jose Mourinho will be delighted with the way his side dealt with Stoke, although there may be some concern about Eden Hazard limping off near the end. John Terry walks down the tunnel beating his chest as the Chelsea fans salute him. Next up for Chelsea: the visit of fourth-placed West Ham on Boxing Day. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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Full-time: Stoke City 0-2 Chelsea
It’s done!
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90 min+7: Bojan, who’s operated on the edges of the match, whistles one just wide from 25 yards.
90 min+3: Kurt Zouma replaces the limping Eden Hazard.
90 min+2: Hazard hobbles back on. There are boos from the Stoke fans.
90 min+1: Well, after some treatment, Hazard is on his feet again. There will be five minutes of stoppage time.
90 min: This could be bad news for Chelsea. Eden Hazard is down after being clumsily rapped on the achilles by Walters and he appears to be in some pain. Walters is booked. This would be the last thing Chelsea need.
88 min: Drogba turns and rattles one well over from 30 yards.
86 min: “I’m assuming this is the type of football Chelsea fans dreamed of when they wanted Jose back?” says Keith Tucker. “They are effective but my god they are “sh!t on a stick” at times, not the happy one but the “hasn’t changed at all one!””
Er, they’re winning at Stoke and they’re top.
85 min: That’s the last we’ll see of Costa tonight. He goes off, Didier Drogba comes on. But there’s a bit of work to do up the other end as Assaidi speeds clear and shoots from an angle. Courtois pushes it away.
84 min: Costa almost comes up with the perfect answer but Begovic saves expertly with his chest after the Brazilian was played in by Schurrle.
83 min: Mark Hughes just cupped his ear at Diego Costa. That just happened. Mark Hughes is 51 years old.
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82 min: Oussama Assaidi, the scorer of a wondrous winner for Stoke against Chelsea last season, replaces Marko Arnautovic, who has been extremely disappointing.
81 min: “Charlie Adam coming on reminded me of some online shopping I did in search for some Christmas stocking stuffers for the kids,” says Peter Oh. “One store had Liverpool Adam bobblehead figures on sale for a fraction of the original price. The price was attractive but I didn’t want my kids to think that they’ve been bad this year.”
80 min: Andre Schurrle replaces Willian.
GOAL! Stoke 0-2 Chelsea (Fabregas, 77 min)
Cesc Fabregas wraps up the points for Chelsea and they will be top of the league at Christmas! It was made, of course, by Eden Hazard. Who else? He swept a glorious eye-of-the-needle pass through to Fabregas, and he changed direction with a brilliant first touch, swerving to the right, and away from the Stoke defender. His finish wasn’t great, a slight mishit into the ground with his right foot from 12 yards, but perhaps that was what beat Begovic, who seemed flummoxed as the ball dribbled into the bottom-right corner.
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77 min: Andre Schurrle is getting ready to come on for Chelsea.
76 min: Matic has been imperious tonight. He is a class player. Here, anyone else think Arsenal could do with someone like him?
74 min: Arnautovic finds space on the left of the Chelsea area. His cross is wonderfully incompetent.
71 min: This is the closest Stoke have come for a while. Chelsea got themselves into mess dealing with a high ball on the edge of the area and eventually it made its way to Adam. His shot from 18 yards out flashed inches past the right post.
70 min: “Anaconda,” says Matt Dony. “Hazard is unquestionably a wonderful footballer, but somehow, the enormous size of his derrière just adds an air of comedy to everything he does. Go on, Eden. Break the internet.”
68 min: Charlie Adam replaces Geoff Cameron.
67 min: Arnautovic shakes off Fabregas on the edge of the Chelsea area. It’s deflected wide for a corner but once again the delivery isn’t good enough. Seconds later, Bojan bursts into the Chelsea area on the right and tries to beat Matic, only to experience a case of the Gerrards at the worst possible moment.
65 min: Chelsea have a tight grip on this match at the moment. Very little is happening.
63 min: Crouch heads Fabregas’s corner away and that’s his final contribution of the match. Mame Biram Diouf is on in his place.
62 min: A free-kick to Chelsea, 30 yards from goal. It’s tapped to Willian. It hits the wall and goes wide for a corner.
61 min: Willian dashes forward from the left, shimmies inside and shoots. A deflection takes the very minimal sting out of the shot and Begovic saves.
60 min: Stoke can’t stop giving the ball away.
58 min: Mikel attempts to be Xavi but is Mikel and plays a five-yard pass out of play. The quality of this match has been questionable.
55 min: The remarkable Hazard, presumably stuffed into a box by two Stoke defenders on the left of the area, manages to dig out a cross to Fabregas, whose instinctive flick from six yards jabs straight up into the hands of Begovic.
53 min: Erik Pieters is booked. I’m not sure why. He was having a healthy debate with Costa a moment or two ago, presumably about which Home Alone was the best. Pieters likes the original but Costa loves New York.
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52 min: A scrappy passage play on the right leads to space opening up for Willian, who drives forward towards the Stoke area, managing to stay on his feet despite Muniesa twice trying to bring him down. With no one really up in support with him, Willian goes it alone and shoots low towards the far corner. Begovic saves.
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49 min: A curious incident. Chelsea have a throw on the right. Ivanovic chucks it inside and Hazard totally misses his kick and the ball ricochets off Walters and towards Fabregas in the Stoke area. Shawcross has a wild swing and the ball and appears to bring Fabregas down, but Swarbrick isn’t interested. Instead the flag goes up for offside against Fabregas. Who, replays show, was onside. And the ball came off a Stoke player. Other than that, it’s more fine Premier League officiating.
48 min: Bardsley cuts inside from the right and shoots with his left. It’s deflected off a Chelsea defender and Courtois does well to prevent a corner, pushing it away for a throw. Which, when you’re playing Stoke, is a corner anyway. Cameron sends in another missile. Chelsea stand up to it but the danger isn’t quite over yet. Bardsley crosses. Crouch heads over.
46 min: And so the second half begins. Stoke hit the ball long. Chelsea win a goal-kick. It’s a kick-off that will live long in the memory.
Half-time: Stoke 0-1 Chelsea
Costa falls off the ball, claiming he was fouled by Shawcross. Neil Swarbrick has presumably had enough and blows for half-time. He needs a breather.
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45 min+3: Fabregas pings a long pass to Costa, who does brilliantly to control it ahead of two Stoke defenders, turn and attempt to bulldoze his way to goal. But Shawcross denies him with an excellent challenge.
45 min+2: Cameron flings a long throw into the Chelsea box. Courtois, again, is equal to it.
45 min: There will be three minutes of stoppage time.
42 min: Aside from that brief flurry 20 minutes or so ago, Stoke have done little. The game is Chelsea’s to lose. “Will Cahill open a shop selling cereal in Hoxton,” wonders Jason Brimmell.
41 min: “You know Stoke fans read this too,” says Joshua Reynolds. “I’m starting to get my feelings hurt.” Sorry. I like the cat I can see in your profile picture.
40 min: “I’m on pins and needles re: the beard situation,” says Linda Howard. “Tell me more.” It’s just clearly going to be a strong beard.
38 min: A tear dribbling down his cheek, Bojan lofts the ball into the Chelsea area. Courtois comes, punches, falls and is awarded a free-kick. “I think that you’ll find, if you consult the Stoke crowd, that it was Ramsey who perpetrated an assault on Shawcross, hence the relentless but wholly justified booing when Ramsey has the temerity to show his face at the Britannia,” says Charles Antaki. “Costa is obviously planning to do exactly the same, so the crowd are just expressing their consternation early.”
37 min: Mikel nibbles away at Arnautovic and hands Stoke a free-kick around 40 yards from goal. Bojan will be sticking this one in the mixah but, before he does so, he’s going to think back a few years to when he was playing with Lionel Messi and try to work out where it all went wrong.
36 min: Gary Cahill is growing a good beard.
34 min: With Chelsea on the attack, Eden Hazard sportingly puts the ball out of play because Phil Bardsley is down with a foot injury up the other end. Sometimes the Christmas spirit brings a tear to the eye.
31 min: Diego Costa wastes a glorious chance to increase Chelsea’s lead. It came from a Chelsea counter. Hazard swiftly found Fabregas and as he looked to stroke a pass through, Shawcross thought he’d better step up and play offside, only he decided to wait until 2015 to do so. Costa scooted off into the distance as Stoke appealed in vain for a flag, but incredibly he rolled his right-footed shot past Begovic and past the left post. That’s a bad miss.
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29 min: Just think, Cesc Fabregas hasn’t appeared at this ground since Aaron Ramsey had his leg snapped in two by Ryan Shawcross in February 2010.
28 min: Shawcross lofts a high ball into the Chelsea area. There’s Courtois. He’s so good at relieving the pressure on his defence. “I love Christmas, but it can get in the way of the football,” says Simon McMahon. “I mean, after the MBM of Cowdenbeath v. Hearts tomorrow, there’s no matches for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!! Don’t you think it’s about time the TV companies and the League got their act together?”
26 min: Hazard doesn’t seem to have been affected by the Stokish tackle from Bardsley. He’s still the biggest threat on the pitch. He picks out Ivanovic on the edge of the area again; his shot is useless. “How was that not a sending off?” says Ruth Purdue. “Reminds me of this on Ronaldo.” Yes, it did have that scissor quality.
24 min: Chelsea extricate themselves from their position under the cosh with two flowing counters. The first is inadvertently stopped by an unwitting Swarbrick, much to the amusement of Mourinho, before Hazard leads an attack down the left. He faces up to Bardsley and win a corner. It comes to nothing.
22 min: Before the corner can be taken, there’s a wrestling match between N’Zonzi and Matic. Swarbrick sorts it out. In comes the corner. It’s cleared but Stoke come again, Bojan dribbling through from the right, and poking a pass to Walters, who’s unmarked on the left. He gets the ball out of his feet and has a clear sight of goal, but his shot is deflected wide by Cahill! Suddenly Chelsea are properly under the cosh!
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21 min: What a save from Courtois! N’Zonzi - I think - strode through midfield and struck a low shot goalwards. It deflected off Azpilicueta but, somehow, Courtois adjusted himself, dived to his left and tipped it round the post! That looked a certain goal! He is superb. But Stoke have suddenly woken up, preposterously, because of that tackle by Bardsley.
20 min: Mourinho is absolutely livid and so are the Chelsea players. So, too, for some reason, is Phil Bardsley. Eventually he’s shown a yellow card. That’s raised the temperature.
19 min: This is a ludicrous challenge from Bardsley on Hazard, reckless and dangerous, and Chelsea are furious. Hazard ran down the left and although the ball was out of play, Bardsley was hospitable enough to complete take the Belgian out with a wince-inducing challenge. He could be off here.
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18 min: Azpilicueta slides a pass down the line to Costa, who wins a corner off Shawcross. He then engages in light barging with Shawcross. Nothing comes of it and the corner can be taken. It’s a waste of time from Fabregas, straight to the first man.
16 min: Cameron hurls a long throw into the Chelsea area. Cahill heads behind for a Stoke corner. Courtois collects Bojan’s cross.
15 min: Costa is on his feet again. He has a swig of water. Boo. Boo! BOOOOOOOOOOOO! “If I were Chelsea, I wouldn’t worry too much about being top of the league at Christmas,” says Matt Dony, who may or may not support Liverpool. “It’s not all that...”
14 min: Costa is down after finding himself sandwiched by Shawcross and N’Zonzi sandwich. The Stoke fans are unhappy with this development. They’re an angry bunch, aren’t they?
12 min: Arnautovic clips a pass from left to right out of play. Stoke need to settle down.
10 min: Let’s hope that Stoke’s players have good memories, because it’s been a while since they’ve experienced touching the football. Hazard, full of urgency, whips a menacing low bouncer into the Stoke area from the right but it’s just got too much heat on it for Costa to reach.
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8 min: A deep cross from Ivanovic from the right is headed back by Costa, but only to a Stoke defender. Chelsea fancy a second goal here. They also fancy being top of the league at Christmas.
7 min: Terry’s goal has rather taken the wind out of Stoke’s sails and Chelsea are starting to strut and swagger. Sharp interplay in the middle has Hazard on the march again, shuffling into the area from the left. The door is slammed in his face before he can shoot, but he locates another entrance, and the ball ends up the feet of Costa on the edge of the area. But he scuffs a hurried shot harmlessly wide.
6 min: Diego Costa has a touch of the ball. This is, as far as I’m aware, the first game he’s ever played against Stoke. He’s booed.
5 min: The Stoke fans are annoyed that a couple of decisions haven’t gone their way already. Bojan tries to haul them to their feet with a dribble through the middle but he’s stopped by Matic, cleanly. So when Stoke are awarded a free-kick for something else a few seconds later, there are ironic cheers. Neil Swarbrick has been informed.
3 min: Captain, leader, legend, goalscoring sensation, John Terry.
GOAL! Stoke City 0-1 Chelsea (Terry, 2 min)
What a start for Chelsea! Fabregas fizzes the corner into the middle from the right and Terry eludes a couple of Stoke defenders and nuts the ball past the helpless Asmir Begovic! It seems that Chelsea are up for this. They’ve done a reverse Arsenal!
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2 min: Chelsea are quickly on the front foot, a lovely ball catching Bardsley out of position and releasing Hazard. He scampers into the area and tees up Ivanovic for a shot from the edge of the area. It’s deflected. Corner. From which...
And we’re off! Chelsea, all in blue and kicking from right to left in the first half, get us underway as the Stoke fans loudly belt out a chant of marching in.
Here come the teams! Jose Mourinho is ambling out, an amused look on his face. What does he know? What’s up? He’s knows something we don’t. “After seeing to Arsenal, Jon Walters was bigged-up (as I think the phrase is) by Guardian writers a couple of weeks back, only just stopping short of calling him Stoke’s answer to Marco van Basten and Alessandro del Piero,” says Charles Antaki. “Gooners will hope he manages to approximate one or other of those two against Chelsea, if only to ease the pain.”
“If you are not able to adapt when the opponent has the ball, you are in trouble,” Mourinho says. Listen and learn, Arsene!
Here’s Jose Mourinho on the famous Stoke crowd: “The atmosphere normally doesn’t score goals, unless, before the time of goal-line technology.” What could he possibly be talking about?
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This will be of interest to Chelsea fans, Dominic Fifield reporting that Atletico Madrid are negotiating with Milan over bringing Fernando Torres home.
“If Stoke win 1-0 that would leave Chelsea and Man City with equal points, goal difference and goals for and against,” says Jordan Devine. “Who would be top of the league, seeing as the head-to-head was a draw?”
Chelsea would be top on alphabetical order. Unless I’m wrong.
The teams!
Stoke: Begovic; Bardsley, Shawcross, Muniesa, Pieters; Cameron,
Nzonzi; Walters, Bojan, Arnautovic; Crouch. Subs: Huth, Whelan,
Wilson, Adam, Diouf, Butland, Assaidi.
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Matic; Willian, Fabregas, Hazard; Costa. Subs: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Ake, Oscar, Drogba, Schurrle.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).
Preamble
Good evening! Manchester United were so pleased with themselves when they beat Arsenal at Highbury in 2005 and rightly so. Arsenal were good back then and the win was supposed to have inserted firmly back into the title race. Suddenly the pressure was on Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. How would they handle it? Chelsea, after all, had not won the league since 1955 and although Mourinho had just won the Champions League with Porto, it was his first season in England. Plenty of sides had collapsed in the past once United started breathing down their neck; Chelsea would not have been the first. United had the experience, the knowhow, the winning mentality. Chelsea, with a couple of notable exceptions, had players who had never won anything serious before.
Their ability to last the pace would be tested straight away by a trip to Blackburn Rovers the night after United had left Highbury with a bad-tempered 4-2 victory, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira clashing in the tunnel, Wayne Rooney shouting in Graham Poll’s face, Mikael Silvestre nutting Freddie Ljungberg, John O’Shea doing a chip. The heat was on for Chelsea. Ewood Park, never an easy place to go, especially not when Mark Hughes was Blackburn’s manager.
But Chelsea were made of granite. Arjen Robben gave them the lead and was then hatcheted out of the game by Aaron Mokoena. Blackburn won a penalty but Petr Cech saved Paul Dickov’s effort and the game ended 1-0. “After the whirlwind in north London came this buffeting north-westerly in Lancashire and at its end Chelsea’s players marched off bare-chested, defiant, triumphant and 11 points ahead of Manchester United,” wrote the Guardian’s Michael Walker. “Tearing away from his technical area, Mourinho neglected to shake the hand of Mark Hughes and was quickly in front of Chelsea’s fans instead. John Terry had already celebrated with a rare passion in front of those supporters and Mourinho now had his captain in an heroic embrace. Take your shirts off and give them to the fans was Mourinho’s instruction and his players obeyed. It will be a gesture Mourinho, those players and all of the supporters will come to remember and revere.”
Anyway tonight Chelsea have a pleasant match away to Stoke City, two days after Manchester City drew level with them at the top of the league. A few weeks ago, Chelsea were threatening to sail off into the distance; then came a draw at Sunderland, followed by a first defeat of the season at Newcastle United, and what looked like a clear path to the title became littered with obstacles. Stoke beat Chelsea 3-2 at the Britannia Stadium last season. They walloped Arsenal 3-2 in their previous home match and won 1-0 at City in August. The heat is on.
Kick-off: 8pm.
