TUCHEL ROCKED BY FIVE-STAR BAGGIES
CHELSEA ................ 2 WEST BROM ............ 5
THOMAS TUCHEL’S honeymoon period is well and truly over after his Chelsea side were blown to pieces bywest Brom. Yes, they played an hour with ten men after Thiago Silva was sent off but that cannot explain how such a mean Chelsea rearguard could concede five against apparently doomed Albion.
Prior to this thumping they had only let in two in Tuchel’s
14-game unbeaten start. The German said: “I don’t know why we couldn’t cope after the red card. Everything that could go wrong did. It’s a big wake-up call for us, myself included. ”
Baggies boss Sam Allardyce is predicting they are still five wins short of a great escape.
He declared: “Even five might not be enough but let’s try and get another fantastic victory against Southampton.
“Chelsea had an off day, not because they were poor but because we were so good.the quality of our finishing fully deserved the 5-2 scoreline.”
Recalled Silva received his first yellow for tripping Matheus Pereira after three minutes.
But in the 27th minute the Blues broke the deadlock. Marcos Alonso’s 25-yard free -kick hit the post and Christian Pulisic nipped in to tuck away the rebound.
Normal order lasted for all of 60 seconds because immediately Silva (right) took out Okay Yokuslu and was heading for an early bath.that forced Chelsea to reshuffle with midfielder
Hakim Ziyech replaced by defender Andreas Chistensen.
The hosts collapsed in first-half added time. Albion’s equaliser came from keeper Sam Johnstone’s long pass finding Pereira, who chipped over Edouard Mendy.
And after Matt Phillips smacked the bar,allardyce’s side were ahead. Chelsea failed to clear their lines, allowing deadly Pereira to slot in his second.
Tuchel introduced Mason Mount butwest Brom went into overdrive with another quickfire double, the 63rd-minute killer third coming from substitute Callum Robinson. Five minutes later it was 4-1 as Pereira turned creator for Mbaye Diagne.
There was to be no stunning fightback even after Mount’s 71st-minute tap-in. Indeed, it was Robinson who completed the rout at the death.