Jorginho’s penalty against Brighton at the weekend was the 100th spot-kick scored at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League era, but who have been our most successful penalty takers in recent years?
Our west London home is the first ground to witness a century of spot-kicks in the English top flight since 1992, 78 of which have been scored by Chelsea players.
Our overall tally of penalties in the Premier League stands at 112, spread across 24 players, and these are the men who have been our most prolific penalty takers over the past 27 years.
Frank Lampard, to the surprise of no one, leads the way with 37 successful conversions. That total would have been even greater had he been on penalty duty during his first two seasons at the club, but he more than made up for it over the next 10 years on his way to establishing himself as our all-time leading goalscorer.
Of his tally of penalties, 23 came at Stamford Bridge and the 2009/10 season, when our head coach breached the 20-goal mark in the top flight for the only time in his career, saw him convert seven times from 12 yards in front of the Blues faithful. This tally included two in a 7-1 win over Aston Villa, when his four-goal haul helped him surpass club legends Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood, plus another in the title-clinching win over Wigan Athletic.
It wasn’t just in the Premier League that he was spot on, though, as he memorably scored a penalty in a Champions League semi-final win over Liverpool shortly after his mother passed away in 2008, leading us to the final for the first time. He also successfully converted two spot-kicks in Champions League shoot-outs, as well as a gutsy effort in our legendary comeback win over Napoli on our way to lifting the trophy in 2012.
Eden Hazard is next on the list of our successful Premier League takers, scoring 17 from the spot – although like Lampard, his most famous efforts came in other competitions. The 2018 FA Cup final against Manchester United was settled by a Hazard penalty, won by the man himself after he was taken out by Phil Jones, and he also netted one in last season’s Europa League final, which proved to be his final game for the club.
Thirteen of his Premier League penalties came at the Bridge, with Newcastle United on the receiving end three times. The first of those efforts was his maiden goal for the Blues at the start of the 2012/13 season and the following season he also completed his first Chelsea hat-trick against the Toon Army by converting from the spot. That wasn’t the only time he sealed a treble with a hat-trick, as he also achieved that feat last term against Cardiff City.However, perhaps his most memorable penalty at the Bridge was one that didn’t find the back of the net. When we took on Crystal Palace in May 2015, victory would assure the Premier League title returned to Bridge and it seemed the script was written for Hazard when we were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time. Julian Speroni clearly didn’t get the memo, as he saved the initial effort from 12 yards, but the Belgian was on hand to head home the rebound to secure the trophy.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored 12 Premier League penalties for Chelsea and all but two of them came at the Bridge. The Dutchman netted on his top-flight debut for the club against West Ham United with a thumping spot-kick, one of four home penalties on his way to securing the Golden Boot as we finally had a 20-goal-a-season striker, nine years after Kerry Dixon had departed the club.
One penalty which might not live long in the memory came against Charlton Athletic in the 2002/03 campaign, as the game was overshadowed by the state of the Stamford Bridge pitch, which many hacks suggested was closer to a beach than a football surface and we were soon to relay the pitch at our west London home.
Next up is Frank Leboeuf, one of only two defenders to net from the spot in the Premier League for the Blues. The Frenchman scored 10 of his 17 top-flight goals for the Blues from the spot, exactly half of which came at Stamford Bridge.
His penalty against Sheffield Wednesday in 1997/98 ensures his place on an exclusive list of Chelsea defenders to score home and away league goals against the same opposition in one season, but few of his penalties will be remembered quite like the nerveless effort at the end of extra-time in our controversial FA Cup win over Leicester City en route to winning the trophy in 1997.
Although Dennis Wise is next on our list of successful Premier League penalty takers with six, his tally of four at the Bridge is level with Didier Drogba, who scored each of his at our west London home so we’re giving the Ivorian the nod.
Drogba earned his first Premier League Golden Boot, in 2006/07, without the aid of any penalty goals and his next top-scorer award, when we won the Double in 2009/10, saw him net only one. That, as any true Blues fan will be able to tell you, came on the final day of the campaign when it was part of a hat-trick in an 8-0 win over Wigan Athletic that sealed the Premier League title. We’re sure you’d agree it was well worth the wait! And while he might be at the lower end of this list, he’ll always have the consolation prize of scoring the most famous penalty in our history, when he converted the winning spot-kick in the 2012 Champions League final shoot-out.
Oh, and in case, you were wondering, the other defender to score from the spot other than Leboeuf was David Lee. And for you trivia fans who have made it this far, another gem to bore your mates with: Alexandre Pato is the only Chelsea player whose solitary Premier League goal for the club came from the spot.