Stoke City fight back to draws against Chelsea

Stoke City equalized late on to grab a point versus Chelsea in an entertaining 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Bertrand Traore gave Chelsea the lead in the first half but Mame Diouf headed home late in the game to seal a deserved point.
Chelsea remain unbeaten in 13 Premier League games since Jose Mourinho was fired in December.
Stoke is unbeaten in four and is in seventh place on 43 points, while Chelsea is in 10th on 40 points.
Chelsea pressed hard in the first half but Stoke’s back line held firm and the Potters even had a decent chance to go ahead. Diouf fluffed two big chances, first firing over and then bundling wide.
Five minutes before half time, Chelsea were ahead and it came out of nothing. Nemanja Matic played the ball into Traore on the edge of the box and after wriggling free from Stoke’s defense he turned and sent a driven shot into the far corner which Butland couldn’t quite keep out. 1-0 to Chelsea.
In the second half Stoke battled hard to try and get back in the game and Mark Arnautovic’s fizzing shot was punched out by Thibaut Courtois and then USMNT man Geoff Cameron headed the rebounded over as he surged forward from right back.
Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri had a curling shot saved by Courtois, as the Potters continued to take the game to Chelsea with Giannelli Imbula bossing the game in midfield.
With Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas rested, Chelsea didn’t kick on and put the game to bed with Bojan rolling an effort just wide. And they were made to pay for that as Courtois pushed Shaqiri’s cross into the path of Diouf and he headed home. 1-1 in an extremely open and entertaining encounter.