Good, bad and ugly from Blues
CHELSEA were good, Chelsea were bad and Chelsea were ugly, with Diego Costa spoiling for a fight and punching the walls of the tunnel on his way back to the dressing room.
Costa clashed continuously with Jonas olsson, squared-up to goalkeeper Boaz Myhilly after the game, tried but ut failed to get Claudio Yacob ob sent off, and was frequently snarling in the face ce of the referee disputing his decisions.
But when itt comes to uglyy football, no- one does it quite like West Bromwich Albion. the messier it became last night, the moree comfortable thee visitors seemed andnd it was no surpriserise when James McClean Clean snatched a late point. oint.
Albion were strong,ng, robust and direct and refused fused to yield when Chelsea hit their rhythm. McClean slammed a loose ball home from 20 yards after Stephane Sessegnon’s run had been blocked by John Mikel obi.
It was the final act in a pulsating game, which bristled with energy and menace, and good football broke out, here and there. Masked full back Cesar Azpilicueta put Chelsea ahead with his second goal in the premier League. Both have been scored against West Brom.
Craig Gardner levelled before the break, but his side went behind again to an untidy owngoal, which will be credited to Gareth McAuley.
the result keeps both teams in the bottom half of the table, with tony pulis talking about another 13 points to reach the safety mark of 40. For Chelsea, it remains unfamiliar territory, and Guus Hiddink’s charge for the top four is fading fast.
Azpilicueta opened the scor- ing,ing gliding past ChrisChri Brunt to co convert a cross from Branislav Ivanovic. It was one raiding full-backfull-b to the other at the end of a counter-attack of pass-and-move revolving around Costa, the target man, bristling with intent and a focal point once again.
In moments of sweeping possession such as this, Chelsea looked like the team of last season, but they still lack stability at the back and a lapse by pedro allowed Albion to strike back.
Darren Fletcher dispossessed pedro and poked a pass to Gardner in yards of space. Gardner, on as a seventhminute substitute when James Morrison felt a hamstring, lashed a 25-yard drive sweetly past thibaut Courtois into the bottom corner. A bottle from the crowd landed near him as Albion’s players celebrated.
Chelsea were furious with referee Anthony taylor, who blew for half-time as they broke out of defence. Ivanovic had the ball at his feet with 80 yards still to cover, but Costa led the pro- tests and the sense of injustice carried into the second-half.
Costa, booked for a late foul on Gardner, tempted a red card as disputed each decision, often close up in the face of referee taylor. His failed attempts to ensure Yacob was booked were quite distasteful, even though he had a point.
Yacob had already received a yellow card when he tripped Costa, off the ball, during a quick Chelsea break.
‘I didn’t see anything wrong,’ said Hiddink. ‘He’s causing danger continuously and that’s very good to see.’ As for any damage to the tunnel walls, he added: ‘We can repair this easily, it’s not a big problem.’
pulis had no complaints about Costa. ‘He’s fantastic,’ said the West Brom boss. ‘He’s competitive, leads the line well, does things defenders don’t like. I was brought up in the Seventies.’
pulis was wise to replace Yacob and Hiddink took off pedro at half-time, replacing him with Kenedy, who was heavily involved in Chelsea’s second. Willian whipped a ball towards the near post and Kenedy skidded in with McAuley but it was the centre half who diverted it in. Chelsea thought they had done enough but West Brom refused to give in and deserved their point.
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois 6; Ivanovic 7, Zouma 6, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 7; Mikel 5, Fabregas 7 (Matic 78); Willian 7.5, Oscar 6.5, Pedro 5 (Kenedy 46, 6); Costa 6. Subs not used: Begovic, Ramires, Remy, Cahill, Loftus-Cheek. Booked: Costa, Courtois, Azpilicueta. Scorers: Azpilicueta 20, McAuley (og) 73. Manager: Guus Hiddink 6.
WEST BROM (4-5-1): Myhill 6; Dawson 6.5, McAuley 7, Olsson 7, Evans 6; Brunt 6.5, Fletcher 7, Yacob 5 (Berahino 60, 6), McClean 6, Morrison 6 (Gardner 7, 6); Rondon 6 (Sessegnon 67, 6). Subs not
used: Foster, Anichebe, McManaman, Chester. Booked: Yacob, Myhill, McClean. Scorers: Gardner 33, McClean 86. Manager: Tony Pulis 7. Referee: Anthony Taylor 6.
Attendance: 40,945.