Full time: Stoke put to the sword by Chelsea

Stoke had no answer to the title challengers this afternoon as they were put to the sword by 7-0 at Stamford Bridge.

It may have been a match reminiscent of the 7-1 thrashing they gave Villa last month, but Stoke can point to some bad luck after Abdoulaye was forced off after just 8 minutes and had to be replaced by Ryan Shawcross and then Thomas Sorensen had to be stretchered off after conceded Kalou’s second goal of the afternoon with a suspected broken elbow.

As you’d expect, chances for the Potters were few and far between, but we can look upon this defeat as an aberration on what has been a good season. We had been unbeaten away this year before this game and had only conceded 16 goals away all season so the scale of the defeat was really a surprise.

So not many positives out of this game and it also included another tantrum from a subbed striker as Dave Kitson was replaced by Tuncay and followed his lead by storming off down the tunnel.