Chelsea ended 2016 with their 13th consecutive Premier League victory, as they played a entertaining 4-2 victory over Stoke City.

t took a while for the contest to get going but managed to pick up as the half went on, with good chances for Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard before Cahill headed home the opener in the 34th minute.

Stoke struck straight after the restart with Bruno Martins Indi’s equaliser, but Willian’s 57th minute effort regained the Blues’ lead. It was end-to-end with Peter Crouch getting the leveller, before further goals from Willian and Diego Costa secured the three points.

Slow out of the blocks

Antonio Conte’s headed into this clash looking for their 13th consecutive league victory, but they were slow to get out the traps with heir first chance not arriving until the 22nd minute. Lee Grant had shown his quality in the absence of Jack Butland, and was at it again as he did well to palm away Cahill’s headed effort.

He looked to have a blunder after the half hour mark as he came out block Costa’s effort from David Luiz’s ball. It fell to the feet of Hazard who had an open goal, but Grant was up quickly to palm away the effort.

Making the breakthrough

Grant seemed to be handling the increasing pressure from the home side, but could do nothing to prevent them taking the lead from the subsequent corner. It was another dangerous ball in from Cesc Fabregas, and it was easy enough for Cahill to rise high and head home.

Taking their opportunity

Mark Hughes’ side had hardly been in the game, but somehow managed to find themselves back in it at the beginning of the second half with their first opportunity on target.

Stoke had been dangerous from set pieces with Charlie Adam playing the ball into area, which found Crouch at the back post. His head down found Indi who managed to sneak his way into the area to stick it under Thibaut Courtois.

Normality resumed

After that shock Chelsea got back into their normal groove, as Costa broke on the right of the area after been put through by Hazard. It was tight angle for the Spaniard but managed to get the shot away, and Grant was there again to see it away.

It didn’t take long for the Blues to regain their lead, and it was great piece of team play from Conte’s side. Victor Moses did brilliantly to get into the area before finding Hazard, he somehow managed to ping it to Willian in a packed box and the Brazilian coolly curled it home.

End-to-end

The game then took a unexpected turn, with two goals in two minutes from both sides turned the clash at Stamford Bridge into a spectacle.

The first came from the Potters as they equalised on the 64th minute, it was good play from Stoke as the ball was played to Mame Biram Diouf from the substitute Bojan. He put the ball in and he Veteran Crouch showed he still had it, getting ahead of Cesar Azpilicueta to tap home.

That was canceled out instantaneously a minute later, when Chelsea managed to regain their lead. It was Willian once again as he was slipped through by Fabregas and he did well to set himself and fire home from the tight angle.

Making sure of it

The intensity remained from both sides as the clock began to tick down, but it was Costa who had the final say five minutes from the end on his return to the side.

It was a great solo effort as he managed to round Ryan Shawcross, out muscle the goalscorer Martins Indi and fire past Grant from the tight angle to secure a hard-earned three points.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.