Guus Hiddink felt Chelsea were denied penalty but says Stoke deservedly claimed their late equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The Blues scored after 40 minutes through makeshift forward Bertrand Traore, before Mame Biram Diouf equalised with less than ten minutes remaining.

And although the visitors were good value for their point, the Chelsea coach believes that the Blues should have had a penalty when they were on top.

He said: “Yeah of course frustrating because we conceded a late goal - that is always frustrating.

“We scored a beautiful goal through Traore and then in the second half I think there was one key moment when the penalty was not awarded on Oscar, if you see it it was a clear, clear, clear penalty.

“I don’t often say that, but it would have been given as a free-kick if it was outside the box. I think it was a key moment but we must not say that Stoke was not pushing.

“They got encouraged by that, and they have some very creative players in the attacking part of team. At the end I think it was a fair result.”

Read More: Match report from Stamford Bridge as Blues are held by Stoke.

Chelsea 1-1 Stoke City in pictures:

The result leaves the Blues unbeaten under Hiddink’s regime at Stamford Bridge, though ends their recent run of three consecutive victories.

A win could have ensured Chelsea leapfrogged the Potters into 7th place, and set up a late challenge for a top four spot.

But the Dutch coach insists that challenge is all but over for the Blues, after West Ham’s remarkable 3-2 comeback victory at Everton.

He added: “Yeah, that’s difficult, almost impossible. Especially when other teams are also knocking on that door.

“Today’s result of West Ham for instance, we are respectful that they are also knocking on that door as well.

“You have to win, as we said, all the games.

“At the other end we know where we come from in December, one point off the relegation zone, amazingly we did it in a relatively short time to get safe of course, but also going into the mid of the table.

“Normally at Chelsea the standard is not enough, but after this season, If we can go into a very beautiful March and April it would be nice - I am referring to the upcoming Champions League and FA Cup competitions.”

Read More: Five things we learned from Chelsea's draw with Stoke.