Chelsea 1-1 Stoke City - Blues dropped two important points but you could see it coming!

Chelsea dropped two important points in the race for a European place this afternoon with a 1-1 draw against Mark Hughes' Stoke City. Having taken the lead, the Blues failed to establish themselves and Stoke deserved to come away from the game with a point.

My immediate reaction is that I am disappointed and frustrated. In my view, we allowed Stoke far too much possession in the final third and they attacked us at will. But for poor finishing, luck on our part and Thibaut Courtois in goal, the result could have been so much worse.

It's another demonstration of not putting these teams away when we have the chance. We move the ball well, get ourselves in good positions but there is a lack of that final pass that could have made the difference on more than one occasion.

You have to credit Stoke however. They came here and didn't sit back to concede space to us. When they won the ball, they moved it forward quickly and caused us far too many problems. OK, for the most part we got back to defend in numbers and dealt with most of what they tried to do but Diouf could have put them at least a goal up before we scored. However, when played in ten yards out he blasted the ball high over the bar.

Bertrand Traore started the game up front and opened the scoring with a beauty. He picked up the ball outside the box, cut inside and unleashed a shot high into the far corner of the net giving Butland in goal little chance to make it 1-0 and half time.

The second half was a frustrating one again. Stoke came at us again at will and we had dealt with most of what they had to offer. Chelsea would often break down their possession, move the ball forward with some nice passing and then reach the edge of the box with little options to open up their defence. When we did, Butland in goal was equal to it. He blocked attempts from Loftus-Cheek and Baba Rahman deny us.

The more the game moved on you could see that Stoke would have a good chance to score and it came late in the game. Willian who had a disappointing game, held onto the ball for far too long, lost the ball and Shaquiri was onto it. He played a cross into the box and Courtois half cleared the ball by punching it in the air, but it fell to Diouf who headed home the rebound from 12 yards to make it 1-1.

Chelsea tried to rally late in the game but only created half chances from set pieces as both Cahill and Oscar headed over. The final whistle went making it 1-1.

Diego Costa was rested for the game and not involved and Cesc Fabregas was named on the bench to come on with around ten minutes to go with PSG in mind. In addition, Eden Hazard was replaced half way through the second half. Let's hope they are all raring to go on Wednesday night.

Some will argue they should have played but Chelsea managed to get a foothold in the game but failed to build on that and it cost us. Two important points dropped but we remain unbeaten under Guus in the Premier League. It's little consolation at the moment!

How did you feel about our performance?