Chelsea 4 - 2 Reading
Lampard (pen) 18, Cahill 69, Torres 81, Ivanovic 90+5
Pogrebnyak 25, Guthrie 29
Chelsea perch on top of the fledgling Premier League table, restored to the summit for the first time in almost 21 months, yet that is where the prescribed script from this helter-skelter occasion has to be ditched. If the locals might legitimately have anticipated a saunter, instead the emotion that gripped this stadium on the final whistle was one of utter relief. It felt like an achievement to deflate and defeat Reading, newly arrived from the Championship.
In the end victory was secured with a goal stabbed in by Fernando Torres from an offside position, technically his most decisive reward yet in a Chelsea shirt, and a breakaway fourth from a galloping Branislav Ivanovic deep into stoppage time with the visitors' goalkeeper, Adam Federici, still upfield after attacking a corner. There was so much here to leave the Royals heartened but Anton Zingarevich, Reading's owner, still departed cursing his side's ill fortune. Not all Russian billionaires prosper in these parts.
Roman Abramovich, watching from afar, would have warmed to the entertainment on offer, though no one at Chelsea will be hoodwinked into believing they will remain clear of the pack for much longer if the frailties displayed here are not eradicated. This match started and finished amid a mood of celebration but in the interim there had been vulnerability to alarm.
Had Alex Pearce made better contact with Ian Harte's free-kick as half-time approached, the visitors might have retired 3-1 ahead and avoided their late disappointment. They would have merited the lead at that stage. The European champions will thrill at the creative options at their disposal, desperation having demanded they poured a team of attackers at Brian McDermott's side when trying to equalise in the latter stages, but there are other issues to address.
This team, more than ever, feels like a work in progress. Roberto Di Matteo is grappling with an awkward blend of irresistible forward-thinkers and a defensive unit that, shorn of an effective shield, can seem suspect. They have yet to stumble on a balance. Pavel Pogrebnyak, offering the same muscular threat he had summoned with Fulham this year, proved as much by guiding a sumptuous header from Garath McCleary's fizzed centre across and beyond Petr Cech to haul the visitors level from virtually their first attack. Suddenly Reading scented blood.
Cech should have gathered Danny Guthrie's free-kick after John Terry had illegally thwarted Jobi McAnuff's run, only to misjudge the flight of the ball. As the goalkeeper flopped to his left, the shot cannoned from his body and into the net.
Reading had not beaten Chelsea in the league since a Second Division game in 1930, a record that stands even if it was sorely tested. What made their first-half ripostes, and assurance to the interval, so staggering was the reality that they had been scorched by the home side's opening. The lead they enjoyed at the break felt as much a triumph of resilience as any threat on the counter. Quite how they had survived the whirlwind opening was hard to comprehend, the only damage sustained a penalty earned by Eden Hazard's tormenting of Chris Gunter and converted emphatically by Frank Lampard.
The Belgian's touch and burst of pace have made him an immediate crowd-pleaser, his inter-play with Juan Mata breathtaking at times. Hazard warnings will be issued throughout the top flight after his first two competitive appearances for the Blues. In his last 20 league games, for Lille and Chelsea, he has conjured 13 goals, 13 assists and, additionally, now won seven penalties. It was his pass to Ivanovic that provided the fourth at the death though, by then, it was Reading who were playing catch-up.
Just as over-elaboration was threatening to nullify Chelsea's intent, and with their entire array of available attacking personnel on show – from Oscar to Daniel Sturridge – it was Gary Cahill who swerved an equaliser through Federici. Thereafter, the game had taken a controversial twist. Torres, who had not previously scored a winning goal for the club, was beyond the stretching Kaspars Gorkss when he tapped in Ashley Cole's centre nine minutes from time, the assistant referee ignoring the protests while McDermott crumpled in frustration.
"We didn't deserve to lose," he said. "I'm gutted the linesman's got that decision wrong: it has not been a good night for him and now it has not been a good night for me, either. I said to him he'd got it wrong, and he said he'd have a look at it. That's life. People make mistakes."
It will rankle, but Reading can prosper if they replicate this endeavour. Chelsea can, too, though they will know there is room for improvement. The hope must be the balance they strike retains the thrill of this new-found attacking intent.
Lampard (pen) 18, Cahill 69, Torres 81, Ivanovic 90+5
Pogrebnyak 25, Guthrie 29
In the end victory was secured with a goal stabbed in by Fernando Torres from an offside position, technically his most decisive reward yet in a Chelsea shirt, and a breakaway fourth from a galloping Branislav Ivanovic deep into stoppage time with the visitors' goalkeeper, Adam Federici, still upfield after attacking a corner. There was so much here to leave the Royals heartened but Anton Zingarevich, Reading's owner, still departed cursing his side's ill fortune. Not all Russian billionaires prosper in these parts.
Roman Abramovich, watching from afar, would have warmed to the entertainment on offer, though no one at Chelsea will be hoodwinked into believing they will remain clear of the pack for much longer if the frailties displayed here are not eradicated. This match started and finished amid a mood of celebration but in the interim there had been vulnerability to alarm.
Had Alex Pearce made better contact with Ian Harte's free-kick as half-time approached, the visitors might have retired 3-1 ahead and avoided their late disappointment. They would have merited the lead at that stage. The European champions will thrill at the creative options at their disposal, desperation having demanded they poured a team of attackers at Brian McDermott's side when trying to equalise in the latter stages, but there are other issues to address.
This team, more than ever, feels like a work in progress. Roberto Di Matteo is grappling with an awkward blend of irresistible forward-thinkers and a defensive unit that, shorn of an effective shield, can seem suspect. They have yet to stumble on a balance. Pavel Pogrebnyak, offering the same muscular threat he had summoned with Fulham this year, proved as much by guiding a sumptuous header from Garath McCleary's fizzed centre across and beyond Petr Cech to haul the visitors level from virtually their first attack. Suddenly Reading scented blood.
Cech should have gathered Danny Guthrie's free-kick after John Terry had illegally thwarted Jobi McAnuff's run, only to misjudge the flight of the ball. As the goalkeeper flopped to his left, the shot cannoned from his body and into the net.
Reading had not beaten Chelsea in the league since a Second Division game in 1930, a record that stands even if it was sorely tested. What made their first-half ripostes, and assurance to the interval, so staggering was the reality that they had been scorched by the home side's opening. The lead they enjoyed at the break felt as much a triumph of resilience as any threat on the counter. Quite how they had survived the whirlwind opening was hard to comprehend, the only damage sustained a penalty earned by Eden Hazard's tormenting of Chris Gunter and converted emphatically by Frank Lampard.
The Belgian's touch and burst of pace have made him an immediate crowd-pleaser, his inter-play with Juan Mata breathtaking at times. Hazard warnings will be issued throughout the top flight after his first two competitive appearances for the Blues. In his last 20 league games, for Lille and Chelsea, he has conjured 13 goals, 13 assists and, additionally, now won seven penalties. It was his pass to Ivanovic that provided the fourth at the death though, by then, it was Reading who were playing catch-up.
Just as over-elaboration was threatening to nullify Chelsea's intent, and with their entire array of available attacking personnel on show – from Oscar to Daniel Sturridge – it was Gary Cahill who swerved an equaliser through Federici. Thereafter, the game had taken a controversial twist. Torres, who had not previously scored a winning goal for the club, was beyond the stretching Kaspars Gorkss when he tapped in Ashley Cole's centre nine minutes from time, the assistant referee ignoring the protests while McDermott crumpled in frustration.
"We didn't deserve to lose," he said. "I'm gutted the linesman's got that decision wrong: it has not been a good night for him and now it has not been a good night for me, either. I said to him he'd got it wrong, and he said he'd have a look at it. That's life. People make mistakes."
It will rankle, but Reading can prosper if they replicate this endeavour. Chelsea can, too, though they will know there is room for improvement. The hope must be the balance they strike retains the thrill of this new-found attacking intent.
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