Second-half latest: Chelsea 1 Stoke 0 – Blues heading towards three points

Chelsea remain on course for victory over Stoke City thanks to Bertrand Traore’s brilliant first-half strike.

Traore, playing up front because of a tendon injury to Diego Costa, turned sharply 25 yards from goal following a Nemanja Matic pass and crashed the ball in to the far corner from the edge of the box.

Stoke came close to levelling soon after the restart when Marco Arnautovic tested Thibaut Courtois with a fierce shot from distance, while the Belgian keeper also saved well from Xherdan Shaqiri’s low strike

At the other end the impressive Eden Hazard – on his 200th Blues appearance – fired an attempt across goal following a swift break by Willian.

And as the game opened up and became increasingly frantic, both sides went close.

Shaqiri had a fizzing effort saved, while the outstanding Willian almost set up a second home goal on several occasions and Oscar had a strong claim for a penalty waved away by referee Mark Clattenburg after a push by Marc Muniesa.

The only goal came on 39 minutes with Chelsea well on top, but Stoke had started brightly and created three good chances on the break.

Courtois made a decent save from Ibrahim Afellay’s long-range strike and Mame Diouf twice wasted good shooting positions.

But Chelsea started to threaten more regularly after the half-hour mark, mainly through the recalled Willian, who blasted an effort narrowly wide and also saw a shot blocked after a fine run by Hazard.

The Blues and the Potters are both chasing a fourth consecutive Premier League victory. A Chelsea win would take them above Stoke in the table and could take them up to seventh place in the table.