Chelsea closes 2016 with sweaty victory in heroic night of Willian

Chelsea have flirted with stumbling in the last game of 2016, but beat Stoke City 4-2 on Saturday, mainly because of two goals scored by Brazilian midfielder Willian and Has reached 13 consecutive victories in the English Championship.

England midfielder Gary Cahill opened the scoring in the 34th minute of the first half, scoring head-to-head with delighted fans at Stamford Bridge in one of their last matches before the turn of the year.

Soon in the first minute of the complementary stage, however, the Dutch defender showed that he was willing to spoil the party, drawing the duel. After 11 minutes, Willian entered the scene for the first time, replacing the 'Blues' in front.

At 19, it was the turn of English striker Peter Crouch to swing the net in the first home goal of Stoke City since May 2015 in official matches. This time, it took only a minute for the former Corinthians to undo a further equality.

At the end, at 40, Spanish national Diego Costa scored a goal in his features, after fighting against the opponent, hit hard to beat English goalkeeper Lee Grant and give final numbers to the duel.

With the positive result, Chelsea, who still had starters defender David Luiz and Spanish-born striker Diego Costa have 13 consecutive victories in English, were one to match the series set by Arsenal in the 2001/2002 season, Record since the creation of the Premier League in 1992.

With the result, the 'Blues' reached 49 points, tentatively opening nine against Liverpool and ten for Manchester City. The two main pursuers of the London team will face today, at the Anfield Road. Stoke City, for its part, has 21 points.