Chelsea came into the game off the back of a loss to Aston Villa and with the knowledge that both Arsenal and Manchester United had collected three points from their matches. They would face a Blackburn side brimming with confidence from their string of solid league performances.
There were some notable absences from the Chelsea side including Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard; both out through injury. Joe Cole had managed to find himself back in the starting eleven after two good England performances during the international break.
Blackburn started the first half with a lions share of the possession and some good attacking play. But as the half went on their possession dwindled and Chelsea started to stamp their authority on the game.
Joe Cole caused problems for the Blackburn defense with his winding runs towards the back four. One of these runs resulted in a layoff to Essen who blasted a shot towards the top corner only to have Brad Friedel produce a brilliant save.
Andre Shevchenko had been bought back into the squad and got a couple of good chances but squandered them.
Right from the start of the second half Chelsea dominated the game and Blackburn looked content to play a defensive roll. Soon into the half Joe Cole played a ball outside to Balletti who put a great cross into the box for Kalou to put into the net. But it took Chelsea a few minutes of celebrations before they realized the goal had been controversially ruled out because of offside. After viewing the replays it was clear that the goal should have in fact been allowed, however the decision had already been made.
Chelsea continued to press with wave after wave of attack, only to be repelled.
In the 80th minute Chelsea put a good ball into the box and Friedel made another great save. During the clearance Samba took a hard kick to the head from Shevchenko as he headed the ball clear. The game was stopped for 8 minutes while Samba was treated and carried off the field.
Blackburn managed to hang on for the full 9 minutes of added time; leaving Stamford Bridge with a well earned point.
Chelsea came into the game off the back of a loss to Aston Villa and with the knowledge that both Arsenal and Manchester United had collected three points from their matches. They would face a Blackburn side brimming with confidence from their string of solid league performances.