Champions Chelsea continued their winning ways at Charlton, but
were made to fight all the way by the Premiership strugglers at The
Valley.
It looked like being a routine outing when Frank Lampard fired the
visitors ahead with a trademark long-range strike just 18 minutes
into the contest.
However, The Blues failed to double their advantage, giving
Charlton hope, and while The Addicks failed to bag a leveller they
could easily have snatched a point.
Chelsea wasted little time asserting themselves on the contest,
penning Charlton back in their own half by controlling the early
possession.
Michael Ballack tried a snap-shot from the edge of the box which
was deflected over while Didier Drogba dragged his left-footed
effort well wide of the far post.
Charlton attempted to hit back, but with Marcus Bent cutting a
lonely figure up front The Addicks had few outlets to disperse the
incessant Chelsea pressure.
Wayne Bridge, who was in for the injured Ashley Cole, was causing
all sorts of problems down the left-hand side with the home team
continually fending off dangerous crosses.
Chelsea eventually made their dominance pay when Lampard
capitalised on an Amdy Faye mistake by lashing a right-footed shot
past Scott Carson from outside the box.
Faye did well to initially halt Andrei Shevchenko's run, but he
failed to clear the danger and Lampard, who is deadly from
long-range, made no mistake with the half-chance.
The Blues nearly added a quick-fire second with Shevchenko just
heading Bridge's cross over in the middle, while Drogba's
long-range strike was collected by Carson at his near post.
Charlton nearly squared matters when Talal El Karkouri's cross
looked destined for the far post only for the alert Petr Cech to
tip the goal-bound effort over for a corner.
The sight of goal gave Alan Pardew's side renewed hope although El
Karkouri's free-kick did not have the purchase to beat Cech, while
Bryan Hughes also had an effort on goal.
The champions finished the half in the ascendancy with Drogba
lashing a left-footed effort high and wide before Lampard's
stinging free-kick was superbly kept out by Carson.
Pardew changed things around at half-time by upping their firepower
with the introduction of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for the
ineffective Dennis Rommedahl.
The switch gave Charlton added impetus, but in truth Chelsea always
looked comfortable at the back, even with captain John Terry on the
bench.
Chelsea, and Lampard in particular, continued to probe away at
Charlton, but never really looked like adding that crucial second
that would settle the contest.
A one-goal advantage is often not enough and Pardew's troops nearly
made the visitors pay when Faye collected Bent's neat lay-off and
raced towards goal before seeing his effort palmed over by
Cech.
Faye continued to look Charlton's likeliest avenue for a goal
although his finish from the angle after getting the better of
Claude Makelele was not good enough to beat Cech.
Jose Mourinho had seen enough of the home side's resurgence and
immediately made a double switch by taking off Shevchenko and John
Obi Mikel for Shaun Wright-Phillips and Salomon Kalou.
Kalou nearly made an immediate impact, but his first-time shot from
Drogba's left wing cross struck the base of the post with Carson
rooted to the spot.
Fellow sub Wright-Phillips nearly wrapped up the points with a fine
low drive only for Carson to make a fine save at full stretch in
the dying stages.
Terry did make his return late on as Chelsea held on to close
within three points of league leaders Manchester United, although
The Red Devils do have a game in hand.
