Missing Mourinho’s Chelsea see misery continue at Stoke

There is irony in Mourinho’s absence, complete with away fans wearing masks of his face, that a player he coached at Inter Milan and fell out with, in Arnautovic, came back to haunt his current club, with first-team coach Steve Holland nominally leading the staff.

Pedro avoids Pieters punishment

Potters manager Mark Hughes named the same XI that took a point off Newcastle United last time out, while the Blues made two changes from their midweek win over Dynamo Kiev. Cesc Fabregas and Oscar dropped to the bench, which meant starts for Eden Hazard and Pedro.

Chelsea lost possession almost immediately after kicking off, with Xherdan Shaqiri trying an audacious overhead effort. A lengthy stoppage led to a disrupted first-half with Pedro’s high boot bloodying Stoke left back Erik Pieters’ nose, though referee Anthony Taylor deemed this incident accidental.

Ramires snatched at effort inside the quarter hour as Chelsea broke through Abdul Baba Rahman, Hazard and Willian. Down the other end, former Blues player Glen Johnson drew a low one-handed stop from ex-Potters stopper Asmir Begovic following good work from Bojan Krkic.

More Butland brilliance

Jack Butland, who replaced the Bosnian as Stoke number one, produced a fine save to tip over Ramires’ long-range effort midway through the first-half when the ball broke to the Brazilian in space.

A goal-bound Hazard shot from a clever Chelsea corner-kick routine saw Jonathan Walters put in a block. Butland, meanwhile, had to be on hand again to save with his legs from Diego Costa when teed up by a one-two back-heel from fellow Spain international teammate Pedro.

Arnautovic acrobatics

The Potters took the lead less than 10 minutes after half-time through Austria international Arnautovic. He found himself unmarked at the back post where he bundled the ball in acrobatically following a sweeping move down Stoke’s right.

Bojan spotted Johnson on the overlap and he pulled back for Potters forward Walters, who signed a new contract at the Britannia before kick-off, though the Irishman couldn’t get the shot away himself. It instead fell for Arnautovic to deepen Blues woe.

Pedro rattled the base of Butland’s right-hand post with a quarter of the game to go; then the Chelsea coaching staff threw on Fabregas and Oscar for the final 20 minutes.

Hughes’ own substitution – Bojan off for defensive utility man Geoff Cameron – suggested Stoke were content to defend a one-goal lead.

Potters eke out win

Loic Remy, boasting an impressive four in four record against the Potters, also came on as the Blues chased an equaliser in vain. Penalty appeals when the French stumbled under Butland’s challenge as he rounded the keeper fell on dear ears.

Even Willian found his free-kick radar had gone haywire, after netting some spectacularly dead balls and decisively so in midweek, with a delivery that failed to get over the hosts’ wall.

Johnson’s deflection took a Hazard shot wide, while Walters miscued up the other end when given an opportunity to seal Stoke’s victory by sub Ibrahim Afellay. That didn’t matter, though, and the Potters are closing in on the top 10 (5/1 to finish there) after a stuttering start to the season.

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