Swansea add to Benitez's blues
A quiet hush fell upon Stamford Bridge, with the hosts’ lack of penetration up front clearly dampening their enthusiasm.
The most noise the home support displayed was when Lampard emerged from the dugout to warm up.
The Blues fans fell silent moments later, however, when Ivanovic’s error gifted Swansea the lead. Jonathan de Guzman pinched the ball off the Serb as he dallied on the edge of his own box and squared to Michu, who calmly slotted the ball past Ross Turnbull.
Luiz, by far Chelsea’s best player, went close with two efforts just after the break.
The home fans started to vent their anger at Benitez for not introducing Ba or Lampard. One fan had to be restrained by stewards as he headed in the direction of the Chelsea bench to remonstrate with the former Liverpool boss.
Another fan invaded the pitch to provide the Blues fans with some entertainment. The rest of the home crowd continued to demand Lampard’s introduction, but the calls fell on deaf ears.
Azpilicueta claimed Ben Davies had handled his cross in the Swansea box, but Taylor thought otherwise.
Lampard could not remove his tracksuit quick enough when Benitez beckoned the midfielder over to tell him he wanted him to come on with 20 minutes to go.
Lampard injected life in to the Chelsea, but Torres continued to perform poorly. The striker found space on the edge of the box, but could only head weakly in to Tremmel’s arms.
Ki then sent Michu through with a clever pass, but the linesman flagged for offside just as the former Rayo Vallecano man was about to pull the trigger.
Benitez finally answered the home fans’ demands and brought on Ba with nine minutes left. Torres departed to cheers and a sarcastic standing ovation, with boos also heard.
Ba made an immediate impact, going close with two efforts, the second a looping header from Marko Marin’s cross.
Ba hurtled through injury time and went down after Tremmel failed to collect the ball, but the referee did not give a penalty and instead booked the former Newcastle man for diving.
Chelsea’s night then turned worse with one minute of added time left. Ivanovic’s second terrible backpass allowed Graham to pinch the ball off Turnbull before slotting in to an empty net.
The home fans responded by calling for Benitez’s head. “You’re not welcome here” and “One Di Matteo,” they sang.
Ba thought he had pulled one back for the Blues moments later but his effort was ruled out for offside.
