Battling Stoke make Chelsea work for points

Chelsea's Jose Bosingwa is seen in action during their Premiership match against Stoke Cityat the Britannia Stadium. Chelsea won the match 2-0.

Jose Bosingwa scored his first goal for Chelsea as Luiz Felipe Scolari's men were made to battle all the way to a 2-0 victory by a determined Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

Bosingwa, a 16-million-pound, close-season signing from FC Porto, netted an impressive first-half goal to set the Premier League title favourites on the way to the points before Nicolas Anelka made the win safe with his fourth goal of the season on 76 minutes.

Top-flight newcomers Stoke -- who had invited American boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard to be their guest of honour for the game -- made Chelsea sweat it out for the win.

Chelsea boss Scolari had admitted in the build-up to this game that he had been forced to devise a special plan to nullify the threat posed by the long throw-ins of Stoke midfielder Rory Delap, whose incredible ability to hurl the ball into the penalty area has been a feature of the season so far.

Stoke's Abdoulaye Faye (R) and Chelsea's Didier Drogba (L) fight for the ball during their Premiership match at the Britannia Stadium. Chelsea won 2-0.

But with the Ireland international failing a late fitness test on a shoulder injury, Stoke boss Tony Pulis was left without his not-so-secret weapon against the unbeaten Londoners.

Stoke remain a hugely-motivated and spirited team, however -- with or without Delap -- and the home side gave Chelsea a clear warning that they would make them scrap all the way to the points when striker Mamady Sidibe left John Terry on the floor in a first-minute aerial challenge.

Nobody is going to get anything easy at the Britannia Stadium this season and, if Chelsea believed that their superior quality would ensure a smooth victory, Sidibe's muscular challenge on Terry dispelled any notion that it would be a walk in the park for Scolari's men.

But while Stoke were ready to fight for every ball, their limitations were evident as Chelsea chipped away in search of a first-half breakthrough.

At times, Pulis's men couldn't get the ball with Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack impressive in possession and Germany captain Ballack twice went close to scoring in the early stages.

Lampard posed the greatest threat with his dead-ball deliveries, however, and Stoke were continually forced to defend corners and free-kicks from the England midfielder.

Chelsea's Paulo Ferreira (R) and Stoke City's Michael Tonge (L) jump for the ball during their premiership match at the Britannia Stadium. Chelsea won the match 2-0.

Stoke's resistance was finally broken on 35 minutes, though, when Bosingwa opened the scoring when he rounded off a three-man move to net his first goal for the club.

The Portugal defender started the move when he laid off to Salomon Kalou before bursting into the penalty area. Kalou's pass to Lampard resulted in the midfielder returning the ball to Bosingwa and the full-back scored with a right-foot strike into the far corner.

When Florent Malouda rattled the Stoke crossbar early in the second-half, it looked as though Chelsea were ready to turn the screw, but Pulis's team fought back well and Salif Diao was denied an equaliser on 59 minutes when John Obi Mikel cleared his header off the line.

Stoke couldn't carve out another similar chance, however, and Anelka doubled Chelsea's lead on 76 minutes when he pounced on a slip by Leon Cort before firing past Sorensen from 12 yards.