Stoke City vs Chelsea
Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas (R) scores the second goal during their English Premier League soccer match against Stoke City at the Britannia StadiumReuters

Chelsea maintained their top position in the English Premier League following a 2-0 victory over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Blues' captain John Terry opened the scoring early in the game before a late strike from Cesc Fabregas sealed the three points for the Blues.

The game started with Chelsea going in front after only two minutes via a goal from Terry, who managed to guide Fabregas' corner into the net despite being tightly marked by Geoff Cameron.

The Blues got a good chance to double their advantage after five minutes, but Diego Costa wasted the opportunity as he dragged his shot wide of the target following some good work from Branislav Ivanovic.

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Stoke threatened for the first time in the 21st minute as Thibaut Courtois had to make a good save to keep out Steven N'Zonzi's effort that nearly went in after taking a heavy deflection off Terry.

At the other end, a brilliant challenge from Nemanja Matic resulted in Costa getting in a one-on-one situation with Asmir Begovic at the half-hour mark. However, in the end, the opportunity was wasted as the Spaniard dragged his effort wide of the target.

The former Atletico Madrid man got the final chance of the first half when he managed to outfox Marc Muniesa and make a run towards goal, but Ryan Shawcross made an excellent tackle before the striker could fire an effort.

Begovic was tested by Willian in the early stages of the second half, before a clever flick from Hazard again brought the Bosnian into action three minutes later.

Although the hosts managed to dominate possession in the second half, the Potters hardly proved to be a nuisance for the Chelsea defence as they failed to create any clear cut chances.

The introduction of Charlie Adam seemed to give the Potters a bit of a boost as he nearly made an immediate impact, missing the target by inches after coming on in the 68th minute.

Despite Stoke's improved performance in the second half, it was Chelsea who again drew blood as they doubled their lead in the 78th minute through Fabregas, who, after receiving a brilliant pass from Hazard, found the net despite slightly miscuing his effort.

Bojan Krkic sent an effort whistling past the left-hand post deep into stoppage time, but there was no danger of Stoke challenging Chelsea's lead at that late stage.