Roberto Di Matteo’s first Premier League game in charge of Chelsea was hardly the most assured performance in the world but the club will be happy with the three points gained and the pressure on 4th place Arsenal maintained. The Italian manager, who scored 175 times in six years for Chelsea, took over from sacked Andre Villas-Boas last Sunday.
With Terry returning from injury, having not played since January, Chelsea returned to full strength. Di Matteo opted for a 4-4-2 formation with Drogba and Kalou upfront and nowhere in the starting line-up for Torres and, more surprisingly, Mata. However this formation created few chances and the start of the game was uneventful. Gary Cahill had a dangerous shot saved by Asmir Begovic within the first ten minutes but this was to be Chelsea’s best chance of the first half.
Halfway through the first half Stoke were reduced to 10 men after a moment of madness by striker Fuller. The Jamaican appeared to deliberately stamp on Ivanovic and was immediately sent off. This should have changed the complexion of the game but Chelsea still didn’t look dangerous in front of goal.
In the second half Stoke played 4-4-1 and kept every man possible behind the ball. Chelsea found it hard to break down this formation and again created few chances. The home side lacked width, pace and precision going forward. Drogba had a brilliant costless kick saved by Begovic and Terry inched a long shot wide but it wasn’t until the 67th minute that the breakthrough came. Mata slotted a perfect through-ball to Drogba inside the box. The big Ivorian controlled it superbly, took it round Begovic and slotted it into the back of the net. It marked Drogba’s 100th Premier League goal - the only African player to achieve the milestone – and turned out to be the deciding goal.
The home side had a couple more chances. Lampard fired a rocket from long range into Begovic and Mata had a costless kick bounce off the post but apart from that Chelsea seemed content to run down the clock, despite calls from the fans to add to their lead.
In the end it is the three points that counts. However the performance was hardly inspiring and Chelsea will have to up their game if they are to turn around their 3-1 deficit against Napoli in the Champions League in midweek.