Chelsea Shakily Draws with Everton

Over the past few weeks, Chelsea really hasn't been in its best form. The Premier League's Premier team starting suffering losses. Not just one or two, but four. At Stamford Bridge today, Chelsea barely made it out alive against the "Old Everton" as they drew 1-1.

It's hard to conceive Chelsea almost losing at home to a team like Everton, now ranked just above Aston Villa. But it happened.

In front of a crowd of 47,000 the game seemed like another normal game (though Everton do have a habit of stealing points at Stamford Bridge). The first half seemed to affirm that Everton would have troubles througout the ninety minutes as Tim Howard ran into Nicolas Anelka pouncing on a horrible backpass from Phil Neville, getting a yellow card. This brought on a penalty, which Drogba scored perfectly. Four minutes later, the whistle blew as the first half came to a close.

After the break, Everton came on to the pitch as a totally different team. Keeping possession for most of the half, Everton ran circles around the Chelsea defense numerous times, though failing to convert. Then, at the 86th minute, Leighton Baines made a big run forward, beating three defenders, and crossed the ball. Two seconds later, teamwork from Tim Cahill, and Jermaine Beckford beat Cech past the line. Finally, with four minutes remaining of the game, Everton scored.

But that wouldn't end the game. The ref allowed seven minutes of injury time. Plenty of time for either side to score, though no one did. But it did seem as if Everton would score again. Anxiety in the Chelsea crowd grew as Everton kept putting in dangerous crosses into the box. Chelsea was begging for the final whistle to blow, and put an end to their worries. Finally, after seven excruciating minutes, the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge, temporarily putting an end to Chelsea's troubles.