Chelsea beat Stoke 2-1

Chelsea edged closer to the Barclays Premier League title with a 2-1 victory over a battling Stoke side at Stamford Bridge.
An Eden Hazard penalty and a Loic Remy tap-in either side of half time was enough to secure a deserved victory for the Londoners, but they were made to fight all the way by Stoke for whom Charlie Adam scored a wonder goal from deep inside his own half.
Remy almost gave the league leaders the ideal start with a goal within the opening 90 seconds, but his deflected shot was acrobatically clawed away by Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
The home side forced a series of early corners, but were unable to create any clearcut openings.
And, although Jose Mourinho’s side continued to enjoy the bulk of possession as the half wore on, Stoke appeared to be comfortable enough in defence and looked unlikely to concede.
But all that changed when Chelsea were awarded a penalty on 39 minutes as defender Phillipp Wollscheid brought down Cesc Fabregas which Hazard coolly rolled down the middle of the goal to put the home side ahead.
But Stoke were level a minute before the break courtesy of a wonder strike from Adam.
The former Liverpool and Blackpool midfielder picked up the ball well inside his own half and, after spotting Thibaut Courtois off his line, unleashed a superb swerving shot which flew over the Belgian international’s head into the net.
Hazard forced a good save from Begovic with a fierce drive from the edge of the box immediately after the restart.
The Bosnian international goalkeeper then had to react quickly as Glen Whelan almost diverted Willian’s dangerous in-swinging free-kick into his own net.
Chelsea were dealt a major blow on 57 minutes when Diego Costa, who was only introduced at the start of the second half in place of Oscar, pulled up with what looked like a recurrence of the hamstring trouble that has plagued him so badly over the past year.
Chelsea’s decision to risk Diego Costa backfired as the striker picked up yet another hamstring injury just 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute in Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Stoke City.
Costa, who has been troubled with hamstring problems throughout his time at Stamford Bridge, was initially left on the bench by Jose Mourinho for the visit of Stoke.
However, after Charlie Adam’s sensational 65-minute strike cancelled out Eden Hazard’s penalty, Mourinho introduced Costa for the second half, only for the Spain international to limp out of the action soon after.
Prior to the match, Mourinho had said: “Two days of training is not enough for him [Costa] to feel ready to play.
“He’s on the bench in case we need to gamble. If we have to do it, we will do it”.