Cardiff vs Chelsea result: Ruben Loftus-Cheek snatches late winner after controversial goal
Cardiff City 1-2 Chelsea: The pressure on Sarri will reduce with this victory, but the truth is that their travelling fans were far from impressed with the performance and chanted for him to be sacked for most if the second half
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Your support makes all the difference.Ruben Loftus-Cheek snatched a dramatic victory for Chelsea with a winner as Maurizio Sarri’s team came from behind late on to break Cardiff’s hearts.
Loftus-Cheek – sent on as a substitute when Chelsea were trailing - stooped to head in from Willian’s cross in the 89th minute.
But replays showed the striker was at least half a yard offside.
It climaxed a remarkable turnaround for Chelsea, who had to wait until the 84th minute before they equalised through Cesar Azpilicueta following Victor Camarasa’s opener in the first minute after half-time.
The result keeps Chelsea in contention for a top four finish, just a point behind fourth place, but leaves Cardiff in desperate relegation trouble.
With all their rivals winning yesterday, they needed to take some points to keep themselves in touch, but are now five points adrift of safety with games running out.
The pressure on Sarri will reduce with this victory, but the truth is that their travelling fans were far from impressed with the performance and chanted for him to be sacked for most if the second half.
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock had tried to goad Chelsea into giving a first start to Callum Hudon-Odoi after the teenager’s exploits with England, mindful that his promotion might encourage Sarri to rest Eden Hazard – scorer of a hat-trick in Cardiff’s 4-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge in September.
In the end, Sarri did choose to leave Hazard on the bench but Hudon-Odoi was sat next to the Belgian as calls for more game time for the 18-year-old were ignored.
Chelsea also left N’Golo Kante among their substitutes, while Warnock stuck with the same team that beat West Ham three weeks ago.
The visitors’ domination of possession early on was predictable enough, but their passing was a little awry and it took them until the 12th minute for their first attempt on goal.
Pedro was given time to set his sight from 20 yards as Cardiff’s defenders backed off, but his dipping shot cleared the bar.
Cardiff’s response was to conjure their own first opportunity. A simple short pass from Harry Arter let Josh Murphy have a run at Marcos Alonso and when the winger cut inside, his shot just curved the wrong side of the far post.
Murphy continued to be a rare source of discomfort to Chelsea. Jorginho was given a yellow card for pulling back the Bluebirds winger and it was from his run that Cardiff won a corner that appeared to lead to home skipper Sean Morrison having his shirt pulled by Alonso.
Like Cardiff, Chelsea’s threat came mainly from the flank, through Willian. But the Brazilian drifted a free-kick wide from a central position 10 minutes before the break and when he helped set-up Alonso soon after, the defender mis-hit his shot wide of the far post.
That summed up Chelsea’s unconvincing efforts in the first 45 minutes which highlighted how blunted their attack can appear when Hazard is absent.
It was to get worse for Chelsea – and much better for Cardiff – within a minute of the re-start as Camarasa gave the home side a shock lead.
Just 52 seconds had gone when the Spaniard struck a crisp half-volley after Chelsea had failed to clear adequately from Gunnarsson’s long throw.
Gunnarsson and Arter combined and when the ball dropped for Camarasa he clipped a first-time shot past a startled Kepa in the Chelsea goal.
Sarri’s response was to send on Hazard, just as Chelsea’s travelling fans started to chant for their manager to be sacked.
The Belgian was straight into the action as Chelsea looked for their talisman to turn things around, but he was carefully marshalled by Bruno Manga.
An increasing desperate Sarri also sent on Ruben Loftus-Cheek and then Olivier Giroud to try and find a way back and keep alive their hopes of a top four finish.
But there was no introduction of Hudon-Odoi, despite his impact for England earlier in the week.
Cardiff were growing in composure and confidence and they reacted quickly to either block shots or close down space, with Hazard, in particular, unable to impose himself.
With 10 minutes remaining, the chants of “We want Sarri out” grew louder and more strident.
There was even a chorus of “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
But with five minutes left, Chelsea finally forced an equaliser from a corner through Cesar Azpilicueta.
It was his first goal for almost a year, but it could prove so precious to both Chelsea and Sarri’s future.
That gave Chelsea the confidence to pour forward and Loftus Cheek took his controversial goal with composure just when Sarri needed it.
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