Chelsea 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1

By Mark Bradley, PA Sport Chief Soccer Writer

There is something about playing title contenders that brings out the best in Sheffield Wednesday.

It is just playing the likes of Coventry, Derby and Wimbledon that they cannot cope with.

The Owls' only two victories in the past two months have come against Arsenal and Manchester United, and Chelsea became the latest leading team to fall victim to the Yorkshire side's ability to raise their game for the big occasion at Stamford Bridge.

At least the Blues stretched their unbeaten run to 19 games since the opening day of the season.

But they should have capitalised on Gianfranco Zola's fourth goal in three games after just 26 minutes and their failure to finish off their opponents let Wednesday back into the game in the second half.

Andy Booth ruined the home side's day with a 66th-minute equaliser that was only his second goal of a largely unproductive season.

And although Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli had spoken before the game of the need for English teams to become more ruthless and clinical to succeed in Europe, his own side conspicuously failed to set an example at Stamford Bridge.

Vialli had taken the almost unprecedented step of fielding the same line-up which won 4-2 at Leicester last weekend.

It was in fact the first time he had declined to make changes this season and the only other occasion it has happened was in his first two Premiership games in charge back in February, which Chelsea lost as well.

Perhaps there are merits in squad rotation after all. It was rather less surprising that Wednesday were also unchanged after their 3-1 victory against United last weekend.

And they served notice of their attacking intentions within the first minute as Booth shot wastefully over the bar from the edge of the penalty area.

It proved their best chance of the first half, however, as Chelsea gradually found space in a packed midfield to establish a measure of control over the game.

Gustavo Poyet was prominent throughout, forcing keeper Pavel Srnicek to push one drive up over the bar with his outstretched hand and stinging the Czech's hands with another effort.

The former Newcastle keeper also saved a long-range effort from Bjarne Goldbaek and was relieved to see another shot from Graeme Le Saux inch past his far post.

However, he could do nothing about Zola's opener and while the Italian converted the chance with the minimum of fuss, the goal owed everything to the efforts of Celestine Babayaro on the left flank.

The Nigerian international teased and tormented his marker as he jinked his way to the byline and then sent over a pinpoint cross which eluded the despairing reach of Srnicek to give Zola a straightforward task at the far post.

Chelsea continued to be in charge after the break but failed to turn their dominance into clear-cut chances as Roberto Di Matteo bundled a shot wide and Zola had another effort blocked.

Slowly but surely, Wednesday managed to find the drive and determination missing from their first-half performance and gave Chelsea a clear warning when Benito Carbone sent Booth clear and the striker fluffed the opening with the goal beckoning.

He made no mistake second time around, though, as the Blues conspicuously failed to heed that warning and side-footed home Niclas Alexandersson's cross from the right for only his second goal of the season.

Marcel Desailly survived claims of handball in the penalty area shortly afterwards yet from then on Chelsea launched a frantic assault on the Wednesday goal, with Dan Petrescu and Jody Morris sent on for Goldbaek and Di Matteo with 13 minutes left.

Petrescu came agonisingly close to scoring a late winner, as he instantly controlled a long-ball forward and directed his shot wide of Srnicek but also just past the far post.

Vialli had been worried before the game at the fact that his team were finally being tipped as title contenders. Unfortunately for him, he was proved right.

Teams

Chelsea: De Goey, Babayaro, Leboeuf, Desailly, Goldbaek (Petrescu 77), Poyet, Le Saux, Di Matteo (Morris 77), Ferrer, Flo, Zola.

Subs Not Used: Duberry, Hitchcock, Nicholls.

Booked: Leboeuf, Desailly.

Goals: Zola 27.

Sheff Wed: Srnicek, Atherton, Jonk, Walker, Carbone, Booth (Humphreys 90), Hinchcliffe, Thome, Rudi, Alexandersson, Sonner (Magilton 87).

Subs Not Used: Clarke, Briscoe, Stefanovic.

Booked: Sonner, Booth.

Goals: Booth 67.

Att: 34,451

Ref: N Barry (Scunthorpe).