Chelsea suffered their seventh defeat of the Premier League season against Stoke City, but what more can be said about the floundering champions that hasn’t already been stated over the past few months?
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Stoke boss Mark Hughes, whose side’s victory was sealed by Marko Arnautovic’s 53rd-minute volley and added to the Capital One Cup triumph on penalties against the same opposition 11 days earlier, feels Chelsea are suffering due to the improvement of other teams. “His spirit and his presence is always there”. We are behind the manager.
Chelsea fans at the Britannia remained faithful to their “Special One”, singing his praises repeatedly throughout the game.
Glen Johnson of Stoke City talks to Jack Butland after a save during their Premier League match on Saturday against Chelsea. In their ninth season in the PL, Stoke have transformed themselves from a team who were known as long-ball merchants under Tony Pulis to having incredibly talented attackers such as Bojan, Shaqiri, Arnautovic and Ibrahim Affelay on the books.
Though again, Chelsea have been incredibly unlucky in a match, with the likes of Pedro Rodríguez hitting the post in the first-half and Loic Remy squandering a golden opportunity to score in the latter stages after being introduced.
“We are behind the manager – you can see that from our performances”, said ex-Stoke player Begovic.
And even Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal are in the firing line for what their teams are producing at Chelsea and Manchester United respectively.
Vardy’s second-half victor for Leicester against Watford – from the penalty spot after he was fouled – was his 12th this season, giving him more goals than Chelsea has points (11).
“They need everything to be behind them in a positive way and look forward”.
“It’s hard to say whether it made a difference”, said Hughes. It is the second time in three games that no member of the coaching staff has spoken to written media after Mourinho shunned duties after the loss at West Ham a fortnight ago.
West Ham United failed to make ground on the leaders after a 1-1 draw at home to Everton, who levelled through Romelu Lukaku after Manuel Lanzini had put the hosts ahead with a fine, bending effort on the half-hour.
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Newcastle, meanwhile, moved out of the relegation zone following a 1-0 away win against Bournemouth.
