Chelsea pulled-off a sensational late 2-1 fightback to ease the pressure on under-fire boss Luiz Felipe Scolari.The Blues looked on the way to their third home league defeat of the season until substitute Juliano Belletti equalised in the 88th minute.
Frank Lampard then grabbed an unlikely winner in stoppage-time to cap his 400th appearance for the club in style.
The victory keeps Chelsea in the title hunt and will take some of the heat off their Brazilian coach.
Scolari's plight has not been helped by the loss of England midfielder Joe Cole with a knee injury for the rest of the season and John Terry's back problem in the pre-match warm-up meant he was unable to play.
But Scolari's public feud with Ivorian striker Didier Drogba appears to have backfired on him as he would have provided just the kind of cutting edge lacked by the Blues.
Since beating Sunderland 5-0 at the start of November, Chelsea had only managed home wins over CFR Cluj and West Brom.
They should have taken the lead in the 23rd minute but once again their attacking frailties were exposed.
It was perhaps unfortunate for Scolari that Frank Lampard's free-kick landed at the feet of Salomon Kalou instead of top scorer Nicolas Anelka.
The Ivorian failed to show the kind of coolness Anelka has been displaying this season and shot high over from just six yards.
Florent Malouda then had a shot charged down, then Anelka was unlucky not to take his tally for the season to 18 goals when his shot on the turn was superbly parried by Thomas Sorensen.
Stoke suffered a blow in the 32nd minute when defender Danny Higginbotham went off injured to be replaced by Andy Griffin.
In the 35th minute a superb run by Lampard helped set up Malouda on the left flank and his cross was destined for the head of Anelka until Sorensen's fingertips intervened.
Scolari's pitchside animation was a joy to behold from outstretched arms aimed at the fourth official to the scratching of his head at misplaced passes.
But despite his various gestures, his side was still lacking the cutting edge the axed Drogba would have certainly provided.
That fact was underlined in the 41st minute when a corner from Lampard was met at the far post by Anelka - but his header was caught by Sorensen.
Two minutes before the break the Dane pulled off another great save when he tipped a vicious left-foot shot from Ashley Cole over the crossbar - and seconds later he produced another stunning save to stop a volley from Lampard.
Chelsea should have taken the lead in the 50th minute but an unmarked Ballack sent an eight-yard header the wrong side of the post following good work by Malouda.
Stoke managed to engineer a chance for new signing James Beattie in the 57th minute but the striker's attempted lob over Petr Cech was just too high.
It was a timely portent as Stoke stunned Chelsea with an opening goal in the 59th minute.
Beattie superbly chested the ball down and fed the onrushing Delap, who ran into the penalty area and held off the challenge of Alex before calmly slotting the ball over the advancing Cech.
It was a goal completely against the run of play - and another example of Chelsea's poor defending.
Scolari's reaction was to replace Malouda with Franco Di Santo but Stoke almost added a second goal when Cech flapped and missed a long throw from Delap.
However, Matthew Etherington just could not turn quickly enough to try his luck at an open goal and Chelsea cleared the danger.
Moments later Chelsea wasted another chance when Lampard shot wide from an acute angle after Anelka had put him clear.
Then Cole, found superbly by Anelka, fired a left-foot shot inches wide of the far post with Sorensen beaten.
Chelsea piled on the pressure with substitute Di Santo causing Stoke problems on the right flank - and with an embarrassing defeat on the cards, it produced the great escape.
First a cross from Kalou was headed back into the six-yard box by Di Santo and Belletti, on for Jose Bosingwa, converted from close range.
Then in stoppage-time, Lampard seized his chance to send a 20-yard shot beyond Sorensen for the winner.
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