In a half of very little goal-scoring chances, Chelsea found themselves ahead shortly before the break courtesy of Eden Hazard's perfectly-dispatched penalty-kick, in which he sent Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic the wrong way, staring at him the whole time as he was about to take the spot-kick. His neat finish opened the scoring in the 38th minute, after midfielder Cesc Fabregas was brought down inside the box by a sliding tackle from Phillip Wollscheid.

Then just a few minutes later, Stoke levelled through a moment of pure magic from former Liverpool man Charlie Adam. He was unmarked and open in midfield near the centre circle, looked up to strike and rifled a 60-yard effort beyond young Thibaut Courtois into the back of the net. No blame could be placed on the 22-year-old Belgian 'keeper, who was in his goalkeeping starting position off his line but inside his box, not expecting a strike from that range with that pin-point accuracy to beat him into the net.

Diego Costa was brought off just ten minutes after being introduced in the second-half with a hamstring complaint which is set to rule him out of action for the rest of the season according to reports, before Chelsea got themselves ahead once more through an individual error by Begovic which was punished to devastating effect. He attempted to roll the ball out towards Steven N'Zonzi in midfield, but obviously the Frenchman was not ready for the attempted pass into feet and was caught flatfooted. Willian pounced on it, fed the ball towards Hazard who drifted past the Stoke defence before teeing up striker Loic Remy; who made it 2-1 with a slotted effort from close range having had the whole goal to aim at.

Stoke were unable to get back into the game significantly enough after that, and despite a late charge, The Blues held on for a vital victory. Jose Mourinho's men move seven points clear of second placed Arsenal, eight ahead of Manchester United in third and nine in-front of defending champions Manchester City.

Post-match comments:

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho: "I am happy with the points and with the performance - the opponents made a very good defensive performance. We conceded immediately a goal and started the second-half the same as we did the first, against a very good defensive team. We scored the second goal and could have scored a third; Begovic was the good goalkeeper of the game. Our countdown is made of our victories - at lunchtime, six victories, one draw. At dinner time, five victories and one draw."

On Charlie Adam's wonder strike: "It was a fantastic goal but we made a mistake. It's a foul on Hazard but we can't wait for the ref, we have to react. The goalkeeper has to anticipate what can happen, so we made a mistake and it's probably the goal of the season."

On Diego Costa's injury worries: "We did every test, every scan, he trained two days with the team... he was ready to play and help the team. Diego has to go home, it is too early. He will be out a couple of weeks, but we have seven weeks to the end of the season. We have three strikers - Diego won the right to be first choice but Didier and Remy are there and work for us."

Stoke manager Mark Hughes: "It was an outstanding goal from Charlie Adam. However, I'm disappointed with our first-half performance - it's a shame Asmir made a mistake too because his performance was good."

Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam: "It was a fantastic strike on a personal level but it is a team game and sadly we didn't get anything today."

Player Ratings:

Chelsea (2) Stoke City (1)
Courtois 6 Begovic 5
Ivanovic 5 Wollscheid 6
Cahill 6 Wilson 6
Terry 6 Shawcross 6
Azpilicueta 6 Cameron 5.5
Willian 6.5 Ireland 5
Matic 6.5 N'Zonzi 6
Oscar 5 Whelan 6
Fabregas 6 Adam 7
Hazard 8.5 Diouf 4.5
Remy 8 Walters 5
Substitutes:
Costa - Arnautovic 5.5
Cuadrado 6 Crouch 5.5
Drogba 6 Pieters -