Chelsea beat Stoke City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, and now sits on top of the table with a lead of 7 points.
They started off really brightly and penned Stoke down with their amazing passing and footwork. The first time that Hazard ran at Stoke, he passed to Oscar and that got nudged for a corner. Stoke were unable to clear properly and Remy’s shot flashed the face of Begovic’s goal. Hazard, Willian and Oscar were not in a fixed place, as they appeared wherever they wanted to evade the Stoke midfield. Chelsea were in a great momentum and looked pretty strong, aside from a few misplaced Nemanja Matic passes. Remy had 3 chances of scoring so far. Stoke forayed into Chelsea territory for the first time in the 16th minute, but the Chelsea defenders ensured that there was no damage done. The 23rd minute saw a little bit of Chelsea hand as Stoke tried to fire it back to Courtois. The referee remained unmoved though. Glenn Whelan received a yellow card for a challenge on Oscar. Hazard shone greatly for Chelsea today. With his trademark shot, he had two chances around the 30th minute, but Begovic saved both.
Wollscheid’s move on Fabregas yielded a penalty for Chelsea, which was taken by Hazard and he scored! Although Chelsea deserved the lead, Stoke pretty much handed them that chance on a silver platter. Fabregas was temporarily sidelined, a short while later, because of a blow to the nose.
The 44th minute witnessed the highlight of the match, and perhaps what can be termed as the goal of the season, courtesy Charlie Adam. He scored from 60 yards. While everyone was focused on Hazard lying prone in the Stoke half, Adam welted the ball over the head of an oblivious Courtois. He displayed a stunning sense of skill and scored an absolute beauty and equalized for Stoke.
The match was a little boring though. Chelsea did dominate a great lot of the first half and the first goal eased up their pressure a little bit.
Post half time, Chelsea looked like they were a little anxious to get another goal and seal the game. However, it provided a great opportunity for Stoke to capitalize on that panic. Chelsea tried hard to get through the Stoke defence, but Fabregas’ lay off to Diego Costa was really weak. You could literally hear the tension as there were sighs of frustration across Stamford Bridge. In the 54th minute, Stephen Ireland – already booked for a previous encounter – brought Hazard down in the edge of the area, but the referee gave him another chance. Till the 60th minute, it seemed like Adam’s goal had shaken up Chelsea just a little bit. Also, Costa’s injury started acting up and it is the worst time, since they play Manchester United and Arsenal in the upcoming weeks.
Chelsea’s second goal came in the 62nd minute, and it was heart-warming to watch a player like Hazard unselfishly pass on the ball to Remy, who knew exactly what to do and simply tapped it in. Jose Mourinho’s reaction was undoubtedly the cutest and funniest, as he took off the goalscorer and wrapped him up in cotton wool.
Charlie Adam received a yellow card in the 66th minute, and there could be no error in judgement for this. He was booked for yelling “FUCK OFF! FUCK OFF! CHEAT!” at the linesman.
Chelsea tried hard to prevent Stoke from pulling out another goal from nowhere. Wollscheid got a yellow card, in the meantime.
Cuadrado had two close chances to score in the 80th minute. Hazard pulled it back for him and his first attempt was blocked by Begovic. He immediately tried for a second time, but Begovic got in the way again.
The four minutes of added time did not see many chances from either side. However, the yellow card received by Peter Crouch for getting Hazard down, was the only highlight.
Chelsea may have won the match at the end of the day, but the show was clearly stolen by the wonder goal from Charlie Adam. It definitely ranks up among the best goals of the Premier League, and there are several comparisons being made between him, and Brazilian legend Pele. Clearly, the best goal of the season, and even John Terry admitted to feeling a little shaken up after that goal.
The Sports Circle 