Chelsea secured a 2-1 win against Everton in one of the tensest games of the season so far.
On a cold and windy evening Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge walked home with warm hearts after witnessing a Blues side show fantastic character and resilience, helped by the resonating sound of the chants from their loyal fans.
Despite taking the lead through Shaun Wright-Phillips in a predominantly blue first-half, Chelsea needed to wait until stoppage time at the end of the game and an own-goal to re-establish an advantage after succumbing to Everton's pressure with only ten men on the pitch.
Avram Grant moulded a 4-3-3 formation from a Chelsea side that saw the return of Florent Malouda after his knee injury. Ricardo Carvalho also returned from suspension to his centre-back role while Wright-Phillips was once again in the starting eleven, this time in midfield.
Everton fronted a dramatically changed side from that which lost to Oldham on Saturday with Tim Howard back between the posts and Ayegbeni Yakubu, Tim Cahill and Phil Neville back in the starting line up.
The game began as it was to go on, extremely fast. Both teams seemed ready to fight for their place in the Carling Cup final, burying the idea that the trophy isn't important as both teams battled to gain control.
It took only two minutes for Johnson to show Everton's intentions as the forward knocked Hilario to the ground inside the Chelsea box, forcing the Portuguese keeper to scramble in his attempt to collect the fallen ball.
The fast paced game continued, forcing each side to play long balls in their attempts to open up space for their forwards.
It wasn't until the 12th minute that Chelsea filled the Everton side with fear when Belletti found himself in enough space on the edge of the box to launch a shot goalwards, only for the ball to curl inches over the bar.
At the 20th minute mark the stalemate continued as Lescott played a high ball across the face of goal, leaving Hilario hanging in the air as the stadium suddenly fell silent, dreading the worst. But Hilario needn't have worried as the ball bounced off the top of his net and out for a goal kick.
The scare seemed to enhance Chelsea's desire and we began to attack back, playing the ball wide and releasing some testing crosses towards Howard's goal, but the resilient Everton held strong and continuously denied our hopes of an opener.
It took until the 26th minute for Malouda to play a through ball which Shaun Wright-Phillips latched onto in the box, releasing a perfectly placed shot that curled only centimetres beyond the reach of Howard before bouncing in off the past, 1-0.
Seconds later Chelsea were at it again as both Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole broke in a counter attack, dribbling the ball all the way to the edge of the box before Cole was brought down for a foul. Ballack stepped up to take the kick and forced the home fans onto the edges of their seats as the shot flew only inches wide.
It wasn't until the 36th minute that Everton managed to retaliate when Lescott released what seemed to be a cross towards the goal, forcing Hilario into an acrobatic save to prevent any further complications occurring.
However, after this ambitious attempt from Everton, Chelsea continued to control the game with Wright-Phillips, Cole and Ballack all having shots blocked by the Everton defence.
As the half-time whistle blew, the Blues left the field with our 1-0 lead and, with our consistent attacks, confident in the knowledge that the game was in our hands.
The second-half began as the first-half had finished as the first five minutes saw Chelsea surround the Everton box, worrying both Howard in goal and David Moyes pitch side.
This did not mean the game was all Chelsea's yet though as Everton created the odd flicker of hope as they counter-attacked, but their attempts never reached the arms of Hilario as the Chelsea back line performed their duties with precision.
In the 55th minute our fortunes changed as referee Peter Walton deemed a Mikel tackle on Neville to be too dangerous for the Nigerian to stay on the pitch and the Chelsea number 12 was duly shown the red card, his second this season which will result in a four-match ban, just at the moment he departs for Africa.
But the gap in Chelsea's midfield only seemed to spur the Blues on more as we continued to launch attacks towards the Everton goal with Pizarro coming closest to increasing the score as the 60th minute loomed.
Steve Sidwell then came on to replace Cole in the centre of the field in the 61st minute as Grant tried to prevent Mikel's sending off giving Everton the upperhand in midfield.
In the 64th minute the pressure proved too much for Chelsea as Hilario failed to collect a McFadden free-kick, allowing Yakubu to smash the ball into the back of the net from close range.
With the scores even the game became frantic as tackles flew in from both sides and the ball bounced from one end of the pitch to the other.
The game continued its high tempo as Chelsea strove to take the lead once again. Referee Walton had his view blocked as Belletti claimed for a penalty after being knocked to the ground by Lescott's elbow. After that Pizarro's head missed a Sidwell chip by inches as the tension in the stadium thickened.
The crowd's cheers continued to resonate into the night when, in the 80th minute, Belletti smashed a free-kick towards the goal only to win a corner as the ball bounced off the Everton wall and into Row Z.
With only five minutes to go Chelsea continued to harass the Everton box as Pizarro, Sidwell and Alex all had chances spin out of reach before a Carvalho header flew past the post.
It was in the 93rd minute that Wright-Phillips forced Chelsea's second when Ballack played a clever chip over his head into the path of the Chelsea number 24 who with a prodigious leap, pressured Lescott into guiding the ball into his own net, 2-1.
Everton frantically tried to get another equaliser in the dying minutes of the game but Chelsea's character showed strong as Hilario denied Lescott's shot.
Even though the game came close to mirroring the draw that Everton secured when we last met them at Stamford Bridge in November, this match was another story. Tonight Stamford Bridge witnessed a game of epic proportions which had everything, including a Chelsea victory.
Everton (4-4-1-1) Howard; Hibbert, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott; Cahill, Neville, Carsley, McFadden; Johnson; Yakubu (Anichebe 89).
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