It had taken Chelsea a season to put themselves into title contention but
their chances may have been ruined by a fateful final eight minutes of suicidal
defending against Leicester.
Chelsea were 2-0 up and seemingly cruising to victory when their championship
challenge suddenly blew up around them at Stamford Bridge.
First a cross from Matt Elliott into a packed penalty area was unwittingly
deflected into his own net by substitute Michael Duberry in the 83rd minute.
Then, with just three minutes left, wing-back Steve Guppy cut in from the left
flank to curl a tremendous strike into the far corner of the net past the
despairing dive of keeper Ed De Goey.
Chelsea's last four home games have now seen them knocked out of the FA Cup by
Manchester United, defeated at home by West Ham, held by Real Mallorca in the
European Cup Winners' Cup and pegged back by Leicester.
They now trail Premiership leaders United by three points with a far worse
goal difference and with just five matches left in which to resurrect their
fading title hopes.
But while Chelsea will undoubtedly rue - not for the first time this season -
a host of missed chances, they looked to have secured victory when they went 2-0
up with just 21 minutes left.
Striker Gianfranco Zola had apologised to his team-mates in the run-up to the
match for his recent barren spell of eight games without a goal but he made up
for it within 30 minutes of the kick-off.
Zola raced through onto Roberto Di Matteo's tremendous through ball over the
top of the Leicester defence and calmly lobbed his shot over advancing keeper
Kasey Keller.
Leicester defender Robert Ullathorne was stretchered off with a suspected
broken leg after injuring himself in his attempt to stop the Italian.
But Zola was by now in his element, tormenting the visitors with his whole
range of trickery, and Tore Andre Flo should have done better than to place a
header just wide of the post from one of his strike partner's incisive crosses.
Di Matteo was also orchestrating the Chelsea attacks having been given more
freedom by boss Gianluca Vialli's decision to make a rare tactical switch to
play a back three of Albert Ferrer, Frank Leboeuf and Marcel Desailly.
Dennis Wise and Jody Morris were the engine room of the Chelsea midfield but
it was Di Matteo who was allowed to probe forward menacingly and he had a header
cleared just off the line before placing a shot just wide.
Morris also threatened with a couple of long-range efforts, while Flo also
headed straight at Keller.
Little did Chelsea know at that point how costly those misses would eventually
prove.
Leicester did have the ball in the net on 19 minutes but referee Mike Reed,
who controversially awarded the Blues a decisive late penalty in a cup tie
between the two sides a couple of years ago, was right to rule it out for a push
by Emile Heskey in the build-up.
Chelsea took time to get back into their stride at the start of the
second-half but after keeper De Goey had pulled off a stunning parry to deny a
rifled volley from Robbie Savage, they started to apply some concerted
pressure.
Petrescu miscued a shot on the turn just wide, Flo fired over the bar and
Keller matched De Goey's agility to acrobatically tip a far post header from
Dennis Wise around the upright.
But just as it looked as Chelsea would be frustrated Di Matteo yet again
opened up the Leicester defence with a lobbed through ball.
This time it was Petrescu who took full advantage, lobbing Keller from the
tightest of angles and although his shot hit the post, defender Elliott
succeeded only in directing it into the roof of the net in his attempts to clear
it.
By now, Chelsea seemed to be rampant.
Substitute Gustavo Poyet just failed to connect with one cross when he had a
clear sight of goal and Elliott only managed to put off Di Matteo at the last
second as the Italian burst through himself.
But then the ceiling began to fall in on Chelsea's season with Duberry's own
goal.
De Goey looked to have kept his side in the game with a reaction save to deny
first Ian Marshall and then Savage, while Tony Cottee's shot hit Leboeuf.
By now the Chelsea bench were urgently telling their players that there were
just five minutes left and their growing fears proved well founded when Guppy
struck late on to earn the point which enabled Leicester to reach the 40-point
mark of relatively safety.
However, the reverberations of his side's late comeback are likely to be felt
for some time at Stamford Bridge - as well as at Old Trafford and Highbury.
Teams
Chelsea: De Goey, Ferrer (Duberry 74), Leboeuf, Desailly,
Petrescu, Wise, Morris (Poyet 70), Di Matteo,Goldbaek (Le Saux 46), Flo, Zola.
Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Forssell.
Booked: Petrescu.
Goals: Zola 30, Petrescu 69.
Leicester: Keller, Sinclair, Elliott, Ullathorne (Kaamark 32),
Impey, Savage, Lennon, Gunnlaugsson (Marshall 70), Guppy, Cottee,Heskey.
Subs Not Used: Miller, Fenton, Arphexad.
Booked: Keller.
Goals: Duberry 82 og, Guppy 88.
Att: 34,535
Ref: M Reed (Birmingham).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook