Petit was linked with moves back to England with Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea, joining the last in 2001 in a £7.5 million transfer deal. He initially was a first-team regular for the Blues in a largely disappointing first season and played in the 2002 FA Cup final which Chelsea lost to his old club, Arsenal. He scored his first goal for Chelsea in a 2–1 win over Derby on 30 March 2002. His second season saw a significant improvement, as he formed an impressive midfield partnership with Frank Lampard as Chelsea impressed in the winner-takes-all final game of the season against Liverpool as Chelsea secured the fourth UEFA Champions League berth. He also scored twice throughout the season: against Everton in the League Cup, and former club Arsenal in the league. After a series of knee injuries, however, he spent much of his final season of his career on the sidelines, and he was released on a free transfer in the summer of 2004, his final appearance for the club coming against Blackburn Rovers on 1 February 2004. After being released by Chelsea, Petit rejected the chance to sign for Bolton Wanderers, and he announced his retirement on 20 January 2005 after failing to fully recover following knee surgery. International career Playing for the France national team, Petit earned 63 caps and scored six international goals in his career and won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000. He scored twice in the 1998 World Cup, the first from a powerful shot from just outside the box against Denmark, which turned out to be the match winner, and a second in the final against Brazil. The goal he scored in the final was particularly memorable, as he had embarked on an optimistic run across field before calmly slotting in the goal in the final minute of regular time. That same goal happened to be the 1,000th goal in the history of the French Football Federation, and the last World Cup goal of the 20th century. France won the match 3–0. An earlier Petit corner kick had set up Zinedine Zidane's header for France's first goal. Petit was also part of the 2002 World Cup squad, though France failed to advance past the group stages and failed to score a single goal in three matches during their defence of the trophy. Petit retired from international football in September