The Special One claimed in his pre-match press conference it would be a disgrace if his side did not win at home against Bradford City. He was made to eat his words as Bradford ran out 4-2 winners, becoming the only team to take a victory away from Stamford Bridge this season.
With Chelsea playing in three domestic competitions in the space of just one week, it was hardly surprising to see that Jose Mourinho had made a number of changes to the team that scraped a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Tuesday night. Petr Čech returned in goal as Captain, with 18 year-old Christensen and Kurt Zouma playing in the defence ahead of him which also consisted of Gary Cahill and César Azpilicueta, who made his first start since injuring his groin in the 2-0 home win to Newcastle. Ahead of Azpilicueta was Mohamed Salah, despite reports in Italy claiming a loan move to Roma is near completion. Brazilians Ramires and Oscar as well as John Obi Mikel joined Salah in midfield. Diego Costa was rested as club-legend Didier Drogba led Chelsea’s attack, alongside fellow summer-signing Loïc Rémy.
Bradford would have been happy to get through the opening ten minutes not to have conceded to the Premier League leaders but found themselves unlucky not to have taken the leader just short of 15 minutes. Filipe Morais’ corner was met firmly by Andrew Davies’ thunderous header that seemed destined to find the back of the net, only to somehow be kept out by Petr Čech’s stunning one-handed save.
Oscar nearly fired Chelsea into the lead soon after with a right-footed shot from outside the box skewed narrowly wide. Oscar was once again involved in Chelsea’s attacking play, and turned provider on 21 minutes. Gary Cahill met his corner at the near post with an improvised flick that found the back of the net, earning Oscar his 8th assist of the season, his highest tally for the Blues already.
The goal seemed to spark Chelsea into life after a relatively slow start from the seven times FA Cup winners and they nearly doubled their lead moments later through Didier Drogba’s wonderful curling effort from 35 yards. The Bradford defence struggled to defend against Chelsea’s fast-flowing, intricate football, as they picked up the first yellow card of the game before the half-hour mark as McArdle fouled Drogba from behind. Chelsea continued to dominate affairs with Loïc Rémy, looking to impress, coming close as his deflected effort drifted into the arms of the grateful Williams in goal.
It was not longer until Chelsea raced into a 2-0 lead after a speedy counter attack punished Bradford for giving the ball away on the halfway line. Ramires started and finished the move as he exchanged a neat one-two with Salah before finishing off the inside of the post for his 3rd goal of the season.
But Bradford managed to cut the deficit by halve just before half time on 41 minutes. Against the run of play, Morais’ free kick eventually fell to Jon Stead whose fierce left-footed shot proved too powerful for Petr Čech as Bradford halved the deficit.
Chelsea started the second half brightly as Salah beat Davies with ease and found Remy who in turn fired a powerful shot, dipping just over the bar. Petr Čech was soon brought into action from a Bradford City corner, first by joint-top scorer Hanson’s header and seconds later by Morais.
The second-half continued in the vein of an entertaining first as both sides exchanged chances. On 57 minutes Oscar found his effort deflected behind for a corner before Bradford carved another half-chance. This time it was Knott who tried his luck with a left-footed effort that bent just wide of Petr Čech’s goal.
After the hour mark Salah lit up Stamford Bridge with another dangerous run, this time cutting away from Meredith before sending his effort just inches wide of the post. The Eqyptian clearly making a statement to Jose Mourinho who may think twice before purchasing either Juan Cuadrado or Douglas Costa.
The 70th minute saw a double change for Chelsea as the impressive Salah was taken off for Willian with Cesc Fàbregas coming on for John Obi Mikel who appeared dazed after a clash of heads with Knott. Despite the break in play Bradford continued to impress and soon drew level on 75 minutes. Chelsea failed to deal with a long throw and Čech could only parry an initial effort into the path of Morais, who had the easiest of tasks to side-foot into the empty net against his first club.
Mourinho had seen enough and threw on Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard for Remy as Bradford sought to defend with everyone behind the ball with the exception of goal-scorer Jon Stead. Chelsea came close to regaining the lead on 80 minutes after Hanson’s risky ball back to Williams was nearly intercepted by Willian. Remarkably it was Bradford who took the lead late on as Halliday received the ball from Stead before bending a smart right-footed effort into the top corner to make it 2-3 on 82 minutes.
A wave of Chelsea pressure ensued and a series of efforts on Bradford’s goal inevitably followed. First Drogba headed wide of the post and then it was Zouma who also wasted a chance as the ball fell kindly to the centre-half who could only find the crowd behind the goal. Chelsea were met with further encouragement as 7 minutes were added on for injury time and on 93 minutes Willian bent an effort just wide of the target. Yet a minute later it was Bradford who sealed the contest as Yeates finished well past Čech after being teed up Stead to make the end result 2-4.
