Stoke City Vs. Chelsea: Strong Stoke Performance Sees Visitors Lucky To Hang On For Draw

Chelsea's weak title ambitious went up in flames after a brutal performance at the Britannia which saw the defending champions thoroughly outplayed by Stoke City. After a fairly even first half which featured a very early goal by Jonathan Walters cancelled out by a superb diving header from Didier Drogba, Stoke dominated the match for most of the final forty-five minutes, with only a combination of Petr Cech, the crossbar, and sublimely poor finishing preventing them from claiming all three points and a famous win.

Walters had caught right back Jose Bosingwa out of position for his 8th minute goal, beating David Luiz on the halfway line before charging into the box, easily fending off Michael Essien's weak challenge, and slotting past a helpless Petr Cech. The equaliser took almost half an hour to arrive, but Didier Drogba's stooping header from a long pass from strike partner Nicolas Anelka was well worthy of getting the Blues back into the match. A 1-1 score at halftime was broadly deserved, with Chelsea controlling play but the hosts playing on the counterattack and taking their best chance.

Carlo Ancelotti's side emerged from the second half with all guns blazing, and it looked for a little while as though overwhelming Asmir Begovic's defences would only be a matter of time. Then, something rather odd happened: Ramires and Anelka were withdrawn for Fernando Torres and Salomon Kalou, and the visitors basically lost all of their ability to keep the ball, mainly due to the fact that they had no more midfield.

Stoke went on to hit the bar twice within minutes, severely testing Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal, and really should have earned the winner when Ricardo Fuller finally beat the keeper in stoppage time only to see his header inexplicably miss the goal. 1-1 was flattering for the visitors - Stoke deserved three goals for their display today. But no matter. Chelsea's title challenge is done, and Stoke produced a display that shows their place in the top half isn't some sort of cosmic misprint.