Conte goes wild Chelsea manager’s epic celebration

Antonio Conte left no one in any doubt how much this win meant to him by doing chin-ups on the Chelsea dugout after Gary Cahill’s winner before going on the pitch to celebrate with his victorious players at full time.

The task of going after Costa was shared out between the Stoke players with Bruno Martins Indi putting the Chelsea man on the ground first. Erik Pieters put him into the advertising boards. Ryan Shawcross kicked him on the turn. Bardsley got that first booking for a high boot. Geoff Cameron nudged and goaded Costa whenever he could.

Costa could not always prevent himself from reacting, and when he was booked for diving in the 16th minute, Stoke smelled an opportunity.

Although Costa was not blameless, it was him battling alone against a number of opponents who were taking turns to try to bring him to the boil.

The first Chelsea goal came from a terrible mistake by goalkeeper Lee Grant who flapped at a free-kick from Willian that should have been simple to deal with and pushed it into his own net.

Chelsea had kept Stoke at arm’s length for much of the first half but let them back in for the last 10 minutes. Anthony Taylor only disallowed a Martins Indi headed goal after a long consultation with his assistant who seemed to say that Saido Berahino had pushed César Azpilicueta when the ball was headed back by Cameron.

Hughes did not agree with that decision and he also claimed that Cahill should have been sent off for shoving Walters for the penalty. Walters lifted a high shot past Thibaut Courtois and Stoke were back in it.

A deflected Willian free-kick after the hour beat Grant and struck the bar but Chelsea were struggling to find a way through. With around 20 minutes left, Conte changed his formation. “When you want to take more risk and when you want all three points and not one, you have to try to change,” he said. “When you change there is that possibility to score a goal but also to concede. Sometimes I prefer to take a risk.”

It was another substitute, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who forced Pieters to give away a corner from which the winner came. David Luiz headed the corner goalwards and Pieters just prodded the ball towards Cahill to score.

There might have been more goals for Chelsea as Stoke finally collapsed but the job was already done.