Redemption for Cahill as Chelsea stay on title track

Cahill said: “You’ve seen my celebration, it’s like a blur. I went absolutely berserk. Playing my position, to have a penalty like that go against you, you can almost see the headlines: Cahill should have done this, Cahill’s dropped this and done whatever. The moment you pull up an error, it’s highlighted tenfold.

“I was just proud of my character because you keep going. It dropped to me in the box and the rest is history. That could be a massive, massive result for us. Not just myself but the team. We kept going and got our result in the end.”

And what about Costa, who was engaged in running battles from the first minute with an uncompromising Stoke rearguard who were clearly out to light the blue touch paper?

He was far from being the completely innocent party, collecting a booking for his reaction to referee Anthony Taylor, who correctly waved on play after one of his more exaggerated tumbles.

Yet after another card appeared to be only a matter of time in arriving, the striker fought back the red mists to play a full part in Chelsea’s defiant second-half display. When Taylor reached for a red card late on, it was to dismiss Stoke defender Phil Bardsley, who had earlier been cautioned for a high tackle on Costa.

Costa did not add to his tally, but his presence was pivotal. “I remember speaking to him in the first half to tell him just to keep his cool,” Cahill said. “He was on the edge at times but that’s the way he plays. They’re a physical team and it was important we didn’t get dragged into that kind of battle. Diego managed himself really well. Maybe he got a little more protection from the ref in the second half.”

Costa’s battles came five days after Hazard had been singled out by Manchester United players in a FA Cup quarter-final at Stamford Bridge. The brilliant Belgian’s absence on Saturday was due to a calf injury sustained in training last week and his sparkling creativity was certainly missed but Chelsea