Hull continued their unbeaten start in the Premier League as they capitalised on some poor Chelsea defending to draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge. Sergej Jakirovic joked pre-match that the only way to stop Xabi Alonso's potent attack was to kick them. While they were unable to do that, they made the most of some calamitous moments at the back to leave west London with a point.
The hosts made the perfect start as a rapid counter-attack from a Hull corner ended with Morgan Rogers firing past Konstantinos Tzolakis at his near post. It was no more than Chelsea deserved after a positive start, but that was quickly undone. First, Jorrel Hato let the ball bounce over him inside his own penalty area, inviting Mohamed Belloumi to pounce and find the equaliser.
Belloumi was on hand to complete the turnaround moments later - putting Hull momentarily top of the league - as his strike from the edge of the box deflected off Levi Colwill and beat Emi Martinez. It should have been three as a spilled effort fell to Oli McBurnie, only for Martinez to make up with a remarkable stop from close range. It proved to be a costly miss as Cole Palmer found Joao Pedro before the Brazilian smashed an equaliser into the roof of the net just after the hour mark.
Both sides had golden chances to win it, with Rogers and Mohamed-Ali Cho striking straight at the respective goalkeepers when goals seemed inevitable. However, it's was all smiles for Jakirovic and Hull, who came away from their toughest test of the season with plenty to be proud of. 7: GOAL! Hull’s defence breached for the first time as Rogers gives Chelsea the lead. 22: SAVE!
Tzolakis called into action to deny Neto. 28: GOAL! Awful Hato defending allows Belloumi to equalise. 33: CLOSE! Coyle squanders glorious chance thanks to Colwill block. 34: GOAL!
From the resulting corner, Belloumi’s strike deflects off Colwill and beats Martinez. 53: POST! Tzolakis’ fingertips pushes stunning James free-kick onto the post. 61: SAVE! Martinez recovers after initial spill to make incredible stop to deny McBurnie. 66: GOAL!
Extract — continue reading at the source.
