Chelsea retain Premiership summit

Chelsea have moved to first spot in the Premier league after beating Stoke City 2-0 at the Britannia on Saturday.

كتب : Amro Hassan

السبت، 27 سبتمبر 2008 - 20:59
Chelsea have moved to first spot in the Premier league after beating Stoke City 2-0 at the Britannia on Saturday.

Luiz Scolari's men secured the win through a 37th minute strike from Portuguese full back Jose Boswinga before substitute Nicolas Anelka scored the second on 76 minutes.

The Blues showed superiority right from the start, and on the eighth minute Michael Ballack fired their first warning with a long range shot that was brilliantly tipped over by Thomas Sorensen.

Sorensen came to the hosts' rescue once again on 14 minutes when he blocked Didier Drogba's flicked after the Ivorian was released by Frank Lampard.

The South Londoners took the lead on 37 minutes when Bosingwa capped a lovely move by bringing down Lampard's pass and firing past Sorensen from the right flank.

After the interval, Chelsea kept piling on the pressure and the score line would have differed if it wasn’t for Sorensen's heroics.

Stoke's only real chance of the game came when Leon Cort saw his header cleared off the line by Jon Obi Mikel.

However, Anelka sealed the win when Abdoulaye Faye's poor clearance found the Frenchman unguarded, the former Liverpool man took full advantage to add the game's second.

In the same Premiership round, Manchester United came back to winning ways by beating Bolton 2-0 thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

After a goalless first half, United were awarded a controversial penalty on 60 minutes after a fair Jlloyed Samuel tackle on Ronaldo, and the latter made no mistakes from the spot.

On 77 minutes, substitute Rooney curled in a wonderful second goal for United after exchanging passes with Ronaldo.

The win lifts United to eighth in the league with eight points from five games.