Story highlights
Chelsea loses at home against bottom of table Queens Park Rangers
Former Chelsea player Shaun Wright-Phillips scores only goal of the game
Luis Suarez scores twice as Liverpool wins 3-0
Everton comes from behind to defeat Newcastle 2-1
Rafael Benitez was only just beginning to win over Chelsea’s supporters – now he’ll have to do it all over again.
The Spaniard, who replaced Roberto Di Matteo as interim manager at Stamford Bridge in November, could only look on in horror as his side suffered a humiliating home defeat by Queens Park Rangers.
It will do little for Benitez’s popularity with many Chelsea supporters still angry at the removal of Di Matteo and the arrival of the former Liverpool manager.
“A lot of things went wrong today,” Benitez told reporters.
“We knew we were playing against the bottom of the table side and we spoke about that.
“We knew we had to be focused but we did not have the tempo and some players may have been tired.
“It was going wrong against a side who played deep and were organized.”
This was supposed to be a routine victory for Chelsea against a Rangers side which had managed just one league victory all season.
Redknapp returns to EPL management with QPR job
Bottom of the table and favorite for relegation, Harry Redknapp’s side faced its west London rival as huge underdog.
After all, last season’s European Champions League winners had won their four previous league games, including an impressive 2-1 triumph at Everton last Sunday.
Even with Benitez’s decision to rest the likes of Eden Hazard, Ashley Cole, Ramires and Juan Mata, Chelsea was expected to see off a QPR side which had already lost 12 of its 20 league games.
Not since 1979 had Rangers won in the top-flight at Stamford Bridge and few gave them a chance of claiming a first away success of the league campaign on this occasion.
After conceding three goals against Liverpool during an embarrassing first half performance on Sunday, there was a more resilient look to this QPR side.
The home side were fortunate not to be reduced to ten men on four minutes when Marko Marin threw himself into a wild and dangerous challenge on Stephane Mbia.
The Germany winger was shown only a yellow card for the tackle, which could easily have resulted in a straight red.
While Chelsea had plenty of possession and worked goalkeeper Julio Cesar on a couple of occasions, the home side was unable to muster that moment of magic to claim the lead.
Lampard double inspires Chelsea
Lampard thought he had put his side ahead on 66 minutes only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
Chelsea’s failure to turn possession into goals allowed their opponent to grow in confidence.
Suddenly, QPR began to look dangerous on the counter-attack, soaking up pressure before pushing forward in search of an unlikely winner.
That winner did eventually come with 12 minutes remaining and when it arrived, it was provided by a man who used to wear the Chelsea blue.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, who spent three years with the club between 2005-2008, showed his former employers how to finish, slamming home from 20-yards to send shockwaves around Stamford Bridge.
The result leaves QPR five points adrift of safety with league games against Tottenham, West Ham and Manchester City to come this month.
Quite what Chelsea’s prospective signing Demba Ba thought of the team’s performance is unknown, but with the Newcastle striker sat in the stands, the Blues flattered to deceive.
While Ba was busy watching Chelsea, Newcastle was suffering a 2-1 home defeat by Everton.
Papiss Cisse had given Newcastle a second minute lead before Leighton Baines’ stunning free-kick and Victor Anichebe’s strike won it for Everton.
David Moyes’ side are now just two points behind fourth place Chelsea, while Newcastle sits two points above the relegation zone.
Chelsea striker Sturridge joins Liverpool
Elsewhere, Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win over Sunderland thanks to two goals from Luis Suarez.
The Uruguay international took his tally to 15 Premier League goals for the season with Raheem Sterling having opened the scoring on 19 minutes.
Liverpool, which completed the $19.6 million signing of Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge Wednesday, now sits eighth in the table.
Manager Brendan Rodgers also confirmed that midfielder Joe Cole is holding talks with former club West Ham after enduring an unsuccessful spell at Anfield.
He told reporters: “I spoke to Joe earlier. He is a really good lad and has been brilliant during my time here in terms of as a human being.
“He is obviously speaking with West Ham at the moment and if they can get something organised, it will be a terrific move for Joe.”