The manager of Chelsea, Roberto Di Matteo, surprised everyone by not including the team’s skipper, John Terry, in the starting line up in the match against Stoke City which was played at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Terry was expected to be a part of the first XI and everyone got surprised when Terry’s name didn’t appear in the list of the players who were going to start the match for Chelsea. The skipper came to play as substitute in the 89th minute of the match.
However, Chelsea managed to win the match by 1-0, but, that was not a convincing win for sure. The Chelsea players looked rusty in the match and at one point of time; the game was heading towards a goalless draw. But, Chelsea was able to find the back of the net towards the end of the match and maintained its no. 1 position in the Premier League points table.
Earlier, Brazil Starlet Oscar was again given the Opportunity to start the match for Chelsea after his brilliant performance in the Champions League against Juventus. The Stoke City players looked defensive right from the start of the match. However, Jonathan Walters had the opportunity to score a goal for Stoke against the run of play in the 20th minute, but, his header was not on target and bounced back after hitting the crossbar. Neither of the two teams opened the scoring in the first half.
The Stoke team kept playing defensively in the second half as well. It was Ashley Cole who took Chelsea ahead in the match in the 85th minute and it proved to be the match winning goal. The Stoke team wasn’t able to score the leveller in the remaining 5 minutes and got defeated. Chelsea will now take on Wolverhampton Wanderers on 25th of September at the same venue.