Chelsea sit on top of group B after a hard fought victory over Valencia. Despite all the troubles of the last few weeks the Premier League club were able to come back from the disappointment of conceding an early goal to take the three points and get their Champions League campaign back on track in this very close group.

New manager Avram Grant must have thought that he was having a nightmare as it was the home side Valencia who took an early lead to send the fans who had come to watch Champions League live in the Estadio Mestalla wild in celebrations. Striker David Villa it was who was able to get to a ball in the Chelsea penalty area first and fire the ball home on 9 minutes.

Chelsea where not down though and continued to look for an equaliser. Their persistence finally paid off on 21 as they broke into the Valencia penalty area where Joe Cole was on hand to fire the ball into the net and draw his team back into the game.

Both teams continued to look for goals, but the defences proved capable to the threats each side offered. John Terry playing in a protective mask after suffering a fractured cheekbone only days earlier marshaled the Chelsea defence to hinder David Villa from inflicting more damage to the score line.

Chelsea’s luck finally changed on 71 as Didier Drogba, having had a relatively quiet night managed to escape from the attentions of his marker and power forward unleashing a left foot shot which beat the home keeper Timo Hildebrand. With time running out Valencia pushed forward to try and force a draw but the night was to be Chelsea’s as they took their position at the top of group B.