Chelsea vs Stoke match report: Diego Costa sets the tone for history-making Blues as title looks closer and closer
Chelsea 4 Stoke City 2: Twice Stoke fought from behind as Chelsea had to overcome their festive hangover, but this ws another important statement in their relentless march towards the title
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Your support makes all the difference.Whatever happens at White Hart Lane on Wednesday, Chelsea are in the history books. This was their 13th consecutive league win, equalling the Premier League record within one season that Arsenal set in 2001-02. If they beat Tottenham next week they will make the record their own. Immortality beckons and with it, almost certainly, this year’s Premier League title.
In the final minutes here Antonio Conte threw on Nemanja Matic, Branislav Ivanovic and Nathaniel Chalobah, all with the plan of shutting down the game. In that sense it felt like a team in April or May closing out a crucial win on the way to the title. Conte’s celebrations for the goals, even more energetic than usual, looked like those of a coach who knows that he is doing work that will never be forgotten.
While this run has been built on impeccable defence and control, this win was not. This was a raucous festive back-and-forth, in which Chelsea let Stoke City back into the game twice, at 1-1 and 2-2, before eventually tearing away from them in the second half. This is a Chelsea team that can beat the opposition in plenty of different ways, with possession, on the break, tactically or with individual quality. This time they simply out-scored them.
It was not the best day out for Chelsea’s defence, who struggled to cope with Peter Crouch and Stoke’s unique blend of Route One play and interesting inside-forwards. But after 13 straight league wins, no-one is quibbling.
It took Chelsea 30 minutes to grow into this game and Stoke were the more threatening side at the start. With Cesc Fabregas starting instead of Matic, this team does not quite have its usual power. Stoke were comfortable on the ball and dangerous when they went long. It was clear from the start that this was not going to be a routine win. Stoke do not roll over for anyone.
But it was also clear that Diego Costa is currently playing the best football of his life. He was the outstanding player on the pitch and one of the few surprises of the afternoon was that he had to wait until the 85th minute to score a goal.
From the very start he was terrorising Stoke, nearly giving Chelsea the lead when he controlled a pass from Fabregas at the far post only for Lee Grant to save his volley. Then he took a David Luiz long ball out of the sky like Dennis Bergkamp, cutting back before Grant denied him again. The following corner, though, put Chelsea ahead. Fabregas clipped the ball in and Cahill got up at the near post to score the header.
But Chelsea did not switch on at the start of the second half and Stoke punished them. Cesar Azpilicueta gave away a needless free-kick, Charlie Adam drove it in and Crouch won the header at the far post. Bruno Martins Indi got in ahead of N’Golo Kante to bundle in the ball.
That slip, the first goal they had conceded in 450 minutes, enraged Chelsea and they came straight back at Stoke. Victor Moses drove in a cross from the right to Eden Hazard, with his back to goal, who produced the touch of the day to lay the ball back Willian on the edge of the box. The Brazilian drove the ball through a sea of bodies into the roof of the net.
But Chelsea, perhaps giddy at the prospect of history, switched off again. Bojan Krkic, on as a substitute, rolled the ball out to Mame Biram Diouf on the right, whose cross was turned in by Crouch at close range.
Despite that second error, Chelsea were in no mood to let this get away from them. They turned it up again and this time Stoke simply could not live with them. The score was only 2-2 for a matter of seconds before Fabregas released Willian with a clever pass into the inside-right channel. The finish at the near post was emphatic. This time, it was very clear, Chelsea would not be throwing the lead away.
Conte made the defensive changes to ensure that Stoke could not get back into the game, and the final minutes ticked away with gleeful anticipation of the win. But there was still time for Costa, man of the match, to finally get the goal he deserved. Martins Indi is not a weak man but Costa made him look like he had wandered in from an under-13s game, fairly wrestling him to the ground and then smashing the ball into the roof of the net with his left boot.
That was Costa’s 14th goal of a remarkable season. This was Chelsea’s 13th win in a row. They have already made history and, when the season ends in six months’ time, all the prizes will surely be theirs.
Teams
Chelsea (3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses (Ivanovic, 82), Kante, Fabregas (Matic, 73), Alonso; Willian (Chalobah, 84), Costa, Hazard
Stoke (5-4-1): Grant; Diouf, Johnson, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Pieters; Shaqiri (Bojan, 61), Allen, Adam, Afellay (Imbula, 61); Crouch
Match rating: 8/10
Man of the Match: Diego Costa
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