In every successful title-winning campaign, there are games and goals that stand out as being defining.
Think the gritty 1-0 midweek win at Blackburn in 2005 when Petr Cech saved a penalty, or the emphatic come-from-behind success over West Ham a year later when the Blues had 10 men.
Another occurred five years ago today, on 11 February 2015.
Two-thirds of the way through the 2014/15 season, Chelsea were battling hard to stay clear at the top of the Premier League table. A draw at home to nearest rivals Manchester City was followed by a tense win at struggling Aston Villa, before a midweek round of fixtures brought Everton to the Bridge.
They were a dangerous side that included Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku, and the Belgian former Chelsea striker was twice superbly denied by Cech with the game goalless.
Cech’s opposite number Tim Howard was in inspired form for the Toffees, keeping out efforts from Loic Remy, Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and Willian. In total we had 21 attempts.
With five minutes left and the game still goalless, Matic’s deflected strike from outside the box beat Howard. Pandemonium ensued, but an offside flag raised because Branislav Ivanovic was deemed to have been interfering with play cut the celebrations short. Our frustration only intensified. Was it to be one of those days?
With a couple of minutes left, Gareth Barry was shown a second yellow card and Everton would have to see out the remainder of the game with 10 men. They couldn’t.
Cesc Fabregas’s deep free-kick was headed on by Ivanovic and punched away by Howard, only as far as Willian. A good 20 yards out, the Brazilian arrowed a first-time volley goalwards. It took a tiny deflection and nestled in the bottom corner. This time there was no cutting short the wild scenes in the stands and on the pitch.
Willian has long called it one of his favourite Chelsea goals and to mark the anniversary we caught up with him at Cobham, giving him a chance to watch it back, recall his feelings from a very special moment indeed, and put the goal into wider context.