5 THINGS WE LEARNT: CHELSEA V PORTO!

Chelsea cruised into the knockout stages of the Champions League with a convincing victory over Porto at Stamford Bridge. 

An early own goal settled the nerves and sent the Blues on their way. Willian made absolutely sure of the result with an excellent second to clinch the tie.

The result secures top spot for the west Londoners and ensures they should have a more favourable draw in the next stage.

It was a much-improved performance for Chelsea and has eased the pressure on Jose Mourinho.

Here’s five things we learnt from the Group G clash:

CHELSEA ARE BETTER WITHOUT FABREGAS! 

Chelsea were without Cesc Fabregas this evening as Jose Mourinho opted to play Ramires- Who was fit after injury- in the middle of the park.

The Blues looked a lot more balanced and Ramires posed both an attacking threat and a defensive shield.

The spaniard has been less then impressive this season with a string of horrifying performances. He may have just lost his place to the energetic Brazilian, who will be buoyed by his recent contract extension.

Cesc Fabregas has certainly lost his magic hat and Ramires will be going that it stays lost.

EXTRA OFFICIALS FIND THEIR VOICE! 

How often have we seen the referee’s assistants stand behind the goal and fail to spot the blindingly obvious in recent years? Well tonight was not one of those nights.

Chelsea took a much-needed early lead when Costa broke through and forced a save from Casillas, only for the ball to rebound off Ivan Marcano towards the net.

The covering Maicon scrambled back to try and hook the ball away, but the eagle-eyed official was well-placed beside the post and correctly awarded the goal.

There is no goal-line technology in the UEFA Champions League but fortunately for Chelsea it wasn’t required here as the assistant referee did his job.

If only they could get things right more often!

COSTA SHOWS CRITICS HE’S NOT LOST IT! 

Chelsea were a different animal tonight, and that in part was thanks to the rejuvenated Diego Costa.

He is a striker who is no stranger to the dark arts and his will to win and spirit is so often unrivalled by those around him.

The Brazilian-born Spanish international’s streetfighter style is not to everybody’s taste, but few can argue he gets his team-mates fired up.

Many have questioned Chelsea’s lack of leadership on the pitch this season and there is no question Costa can show the way.

This was a more aggressive Blues display. They were up for this one right from the outset and it was the powerful No 19 was at the centre of everything tonight.

He frustrated the opposition, tore them to pieces with his movement and on another night could have bagged a hat-trick.

CHELSEA CAN DEFEND! 

John Terry got the nod from Mourinho for a match that Chelsea simply could not afford to lose.

Terry had been missing for recent Premier League fixtures with Tottenham and Bournemouth after picking up an ankle injury while Costa was benched for those two games.

But the captain was back in training this week and his manager decided to throw him in back in at the deep end against the Portuguese giants.

This decision was rewarded as his captain and Kurt Zouma put in a colossal performance.

This looked like the Chelsea of old. Terry flying in to block shots and Zouma getting every last ditch tackle spot on.

Even Ivanovic played well this evening. This was a much better defensive display and Porto didn’t look like scoring.

LADY LUCK RETURNED TO THE BRIDGE! 

Not a week has gone by lately where Mourinho hasn’t had a grievance over decisions.

The Special One has had a point, more often than not, with Chelsea having had their fair share of bad luck in terms of poor officiating.

Decisions like the one the officials got right for the opener tonight haven’t been going their way this season and have been a factor in the club making their worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.

In the Premier League, officials have actually cost Chelsea 12 points through pure incompetence.

In the build-up to this match, Mourinho spoke of the wind of negative results being strong and admitted it was becoming hard to ignore. Hard for Roman Abramovich to ignore.

There seemed to be a change in the wind for the Blues tonight. A change for the better as Lady Luck at last decided to smile down on the west Londoners.

Some would argue that Chelsea were perhaps unlucky to score just 2 on the night, given the fact that Porto had abandoned all defensive duties in search of qualification.

But it was the result that counted and Chelsea will be more then pleased with their nights work.