Charlton Athletic became the first side this season to take points off Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after holding the Blues to a 1-1 draw in the Premiership on Sunday.
The Addicks fell behind in the 18th minute after Damien Duff’s corner from the left wing bobbled in the penalty box, and Eidur Gudjohnsen poached at close range to steer the ball over the line after Charlton goalkeeper Thomas Myhre failed to clear Hernan Crespo’s header.
Chelsea held their lead until the 58th minute when, against the run of play, Darren Ambrose’s long, looping pass from the centre of midfield was met by a glancing header from Marcus Bent, and the ball flew over the top of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech into the back of the net.
It was a sweet taste of success for Bent and his new club, with Bent only having taken the field after an injury to Dennis Rommedahl in the first half. Chelsea were later reduced to 10 men in the 80th minute after Ricardo Carvalho received his marching orders from referee Steve Bennett.
”I don’t agree with the sending-off, but again we are a clean team, we are a team that thinks, we are a team that has shown in the last one-and-a-half year that we play one-and-a-half year without one single red card.
”The team has a lot of discipline, the team has fair play, the team has clean players, but in the last two matches we had [Arjen] Robben with a red card, without one single fault, and we had today Ricardo with red card. I want to see [it] on TV, but it looks for me [like] no fault, or if it is a fault, not a fault that deserves a card, or a sending-off,” commented Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho had mixed views when it came to assessing Chelsea dropping league points at home.
”It’s a game you want to win, it’s a game you play to win, it’s a game that the draw doesn’t make you happy, but in the context of the Premiership, it’s a result you have to accept,” he said.
”When you arrive [at the] end of January and you lose your first two points at home, for the first time, I think it’s a magnificent achievement. But I think when you don’t win at home, you always feel a taste that you don’t like … but again, in the context of the Premiership, you have one more point, you have one less game to play, and you are going in the direction of the title, so [it’s] not so bad.”
After success in this season’s League Cup for Chelsea, the result was another morale booster for Charlton Athletic boss Alan Curbishley — but he played down the fact that he had got the measure of Mourinho tactically.
”I think if you have a look at what Mourinho has achieved so far, I think he has done his apprenticeship; I think he’s only been in the job a short time, but what he did, when he was looking and observing, I think he went round them clubs, attached himself to them managers, and I think he formulated a blue print of how to win games, and if he ever got given the chance, this is the way I am going to play,” said Curbishley.
”I first saw it three or four years ago for Porto, and it hasn’t changed too much. Whenever he buys a player, they come in and they play. Maniche looked as if he’d been here not just three or four days; he looked like he’d been here all season, and you know they play to a system, and they get on with it, and it ain’t tinkered, so really I think we should start given them a bit of credit instead of just talking about the finances all the time. Let’s give them a little bit of credit.”