Premier League, Liberty Stadium - Swansea City 0 Chelsea 1 (Ba 68)
Chelsea gained a gritty 1-0 victory over a resilient Swansea side that had been reduced to playing with 10 men for most of the game.
Chico Flores' red card halted the hosts' strong start, but Chelsea struggled to impose themselves as they put in a disjointed performance and wasted the chances they created, before Demba Ba finally got the all-important goal in the second half.
Chico ended up in the book with a cynical foul to deny a Chelsea counter-attack, and just two minutes later the Spaniard brought down Andre Schuerrle as he advanced down the left flank with a poor challenge. Phil Dowd hesitated, but in the end produced a second yellow for the centre-back to bring the hosts down to 10 men.
Mourinho reacted by making two half-time changes, bringing on Oscar and Samuel Eto'o for Schuerrle and Ramires, and the veteran striker had a golden opportunity not long into the second half. Ashley William's botched clearance saw the ball fall right to him just 10 yards out, but he contrived to drill it wide with the goal gaping.
Chelsea almost suffered disaster just afterwards as a fine run from Wayne Routledge saw him almost get clear on goal, but his effort took a nick off Ivanovic's heel to dribble out of play. And just two minutes later, Chelsea finally made their breakthrough. Two long passes following a quick throw-in saw Nemanja Matic release Ba to advance on the lone defender in Williams, and his fierce effort was too strong for Michel Vorm, who got a hand to it but saw it bounce into the net regardless.
A further wasted chance from Eto'o in injury time continued Chelsea's awful display in front of goal, but they held on to claim the win regardless. It wasn't pretty, but if winning ugly is the sign of Champions, Mourinho's men certainly did that today. They are now just two points behind Liverpool, with a game against the league leaders still to come.
Source: Eurosport
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