CHELSEA 2-0 STOKE
Well, the final score might have ended up a much more modest 2-0 but in all honesty, Stoke must have been pretty grateful it wasn’t a lot worse – and it certainly could have been.
Within minutes, Ashley Cole had dragged a shot wide and once Malouda was brought down in the area inside the first ten minutes, I suppose we all assumed Stoke were in for a right battering. As it turned out though, Frank Lampard chose that particular moment to miss just his 3rd penalty from 33, with a pretty tame side-foot that Sorensen had no trouble holding in to.
Sorensen didn’t hold on to Drogba’s thumping free-kick a couple of minutes later but did well to parry it away although we definitely looked to be getting into our stride. Notably Ashley Cole who had a great game, causing Stoke no end of problems up and down the wing.
We probably looked a bit like a side in third gear at times, with a lot of patience and composure against a much more resilient Stoke defence than the one we met in April although our dominance was evident and you just knew that a step up in gear would inevitably bring a goal.
So, Malouda’s goal in the 32nd minute courtesy of a killer pass from John Terry, took nobody by surprise really. I suppose the only surprise is that we only went in one goal up at the break. Ashley Cole was certainly unlucky not to have doubled our lead just minutes later, with a stunning volley that crashed off the bar and so 1-0 it remained at half-time.
No changes during the break and the second half started more or less where the first had finished – with Chelsea bossing the game. Didier Drogba could and definitely should have scored just over five minutes in but headed straight at Sorensen from Anelka’s cross. Although seeing as a couple of minutes later he was clearing off the opposite goal-line, I think we can forgive him that.
After a couple of easier victories, it was a bit of a shock to feel the tension building around the hour mark as several thousand men (and their dog ‘spot’) willed the second goal to come. That tension wasn’t helped with the sight of a Whelan screamer smashing off the crossbar or the Chelsea captain limping about a bit after a run-in with Delap.
The unfamiliar sight of a Frank Lampard substitution came in the 72nd minute for Salomon Kalou although with news reaching us later that our midfielder is to have surgery on a hernia next week, his lacklustre performance made a bit more sense. And so, with our usual penalty taker now absent, it was up to Didier Drogba to step up for our second penalty of the game when Sorensen took Nicolas Anelka down in the box.
Fortunately, Didier’s was much more convincing, giving us a 2 goal advantage in the 77th minute, and Carlo Ancelotti a bit more freedom to make some late changes. So, Daniel Sturridge got a ten minute spell for his 21st birthday and new signing Ramires came on for the last five.
Overall though, whilst it wasn’t the sort of thumping we’ve dished out in the last two games, even a more resilient Stoke defence was pretty much under siege from start to finish, whilst for us, a clean sheet never really looked under threat. So, 14 for and none against – a decent return from our first three games – and the Chelsea juggernaut rolls on.
TEAMS
CHELSEA: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Terry, Cole, Essien (Ramires, 85), Mikel, Lampard (Kalou, 72), Anelka (Sturridge, 81), Drogba, Malouda.
Unused Subs: Turnbull, Benayoun, Zhirkov, Van Aanholt.
STOKE: Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Faye, Collins, Delap (Pugh, 85), Whitehead, Wilkinson (Whelan, 53), Etherington, Jones (Fuller, 69), Walters.
Unused Subs: Begovic, Higginbotham, Sanli, Tonge.
GOALS
Malouda 32, Drogba 77 (pen)
Blue is the colour
