Stoke City recorded their first league win over Chelsea since 1975 on Saturday as substitute Oussama Assaidi scored a superb winning goal to secure a 3-2 victory at the Britannia Stadium.
The Potters had never beaten Chelsea in 10 previous Premier League attempts and had not previously scored against them since April 2011.
André Schürrle opened the scoring for the Blues inside nine minutes but the hosts equalised just before half-time through Peter Crouch.
Stephen Ireland edged Stoke in front five minutes after the break, only for Schürrle to level matters almost immediately.
It looked as though the spoils would be shared heading into the dying seconds, but there was to be a late twist in the tale.
Assaidi, who came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, collected the ball in the left channel, where initially there appeared to be little danger.
The Liverpool loanee, though, cut infield past Branislav Ivanović before drilling an unstoppable strike beyond Petr Čech and into the top corner of the net.
The quality of the goal was such that as Assaidi celebrated over by the dugouts he was given a tap on the head by José Mourinho, with the Chelsea boss aware there was very little anybody could have done stop it.
"I disappointed Ousamma today to be perfectly honest because I took him out of the team," Stoke manager Mark Hughes told the club's website.
"But I did say to him that he needed to be ready to go on and make an impact if called upon. I didn't anticipate he was going to make such an impact but I'm glad he did.
"It was a fantastic strike - it's something we know he's capable of because he scored a similar goal against Birmingham in the Capital One Cup."
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| Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech is unable to save a goal from Stoke player Oussama Assaidi Photo: Reuters |
The Potters had never beaten Chelsea in 10 previous Premier League attempts and had not previously scored against them since April 2011.
André Schürrle opened the scoring for the Blues inside nine minutes but the hosts equalised just before half-time through Peter Crouch.
Stephen Ireland edged Stoke in front five minutes after the break, only for Schürrle to level matters almost immediately.
It looked as though the spoils would be shared heading into the dying seconds, but there was to be a late twist in the tale.
Assaidi, who came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, collected the ball in the left channel, where initially there appeared to be little danger.
The Liverpool loanee, though, cut infield past Branislav Ivanović before drilling an unstoppable strike beyond Petr Čech and into the top corner of the net.
The quality of the goal was such that as Assaidi celebrated over by the dugouts he was given a tap on the head by José Mourinho, with the Chelsea boss aware there was very little anybody could have done stop it.
"I disappointed Ousamma today to be perfectly honest because I took him out of the team," Stoke manager Mark Hughes told the club's website.
"But I did say to him that he needed to be ready to go on and make an impact if called upon. I didn't anticipate he was going to make such an impact but I'm glad he did.
"It was a fantastic strike - it's something we know he's capable of because he scored a similar goal against Birmingham in the Capital One Cup."
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