Chelsea toils to unconvincing victory courtesy of Willian free-kick

Every synonym for woeful has been exhausted. Every statistic comparing Chelsea's egregious start to underachieving past seasons has been used. John Terry's dwindling skills have been likened to many grandmothers. Jose Mourinho is so short on excuses he's stopped spouting them in post-match interviews.

Thankfully, Dynamo Kyiv was on hand to tend to the Blues' blues Wednesday night, as the west London club toiled to a 2-1 victory.

Aleksandar Dragovic scored both on his own net, and beyond Chelsea shot stopper Asmir Begovic before the impressive Willian wrapped things up late for the home side with a lush free-kick.

Mourinho's team was best in the first stanza, tallying as many shots on goal in 13 minutes (four) as they managed in their entire 3-1 home loss to Liverpool on Saturday.

Willian, one of Chelsea's better performers this campaign, looked a threat whenever he had the ball and the most likely to play a pivotal role in the match.

And he did on 34 minutes, but it was Dragovic - Dynamo's Ukrainian centre-half - who nodded the Brazilian's cross home. Visiting 40-year-old shot stopper Olexandr Shovkovskiy was left helpless, and could only watch his flattened defender sink his face into the turf in shame.

Then Dynamo Kyiv came out for the second half a team possessed, and had the better of proceedings at Stamford Bridge.

Dragovic was allowed to atone for his error on 78 minutes, grabbing a deserved equaliser for his side. The 24-year-old stepped away from the attentions of Terry on a corner, and was able to calm the ball with his right before lashing in via a deflection from the Blues' captain.

Willian's moment of brilliance five minutes later, however, was enough for Mourinho's men to scrape through a well-balanced tie with the win.

It was another uninspiring performance from Chelsea, but thanks to Willian the club leapfrogs Wednesday's opponent into second place in Group G with two more points. FC Porto sits top of the table with three more points.