Dominic Fifield's match report
Full time: Chelsea 1-0 West Brom
Peep peep! That’s an excellent win for Chelsea, precisely because they struggled so much against an admirable West Brom. It took a mistake from Garath McAuley and a storming finish from Diego Costa to decide the match, and Chelsea have now won nine league matches in a row. Thanks for your company; please join Nick Ames for Manchester United versus Tottenham Hotspur.
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90+3 min Costa runs McAuley and wins a corner. Superb play. He is in immense form at the moment.
90+1 min There will be four added minutes of painful hope for West Brom fans.
90 min Chelsea have looked so dangerous on the counter-attack since going 1-0 up. They really aren’t the kind of team you want to trail. Swansea are the only team to take a point off Chelsea after being behind this season.
88 min Costa’s cut-back is stabbed wide by Fabregas, who then has the brass neck to look outraged when Mike Dean gives a goal-kick. Matic is then booked for a tactical foul.
85 min Cahill’s headed clearance comes to Dawson, who chests the ball down and volleys it into orbit. It wouldn’t sit down for him. Meanwhile, we’ve just seen a replay of Costa’s goal and the touchline celebrations. Both were magnificent. Antonio Conte is an endearing breath of stale air, a reminder of a more passionate past.
84 min West Brom’s final substitution: Hal Robson-Kanu replaces Chris Brunt.
83 min Chelsea have declared at 1-0, like all good Italian sides, and West Brom are enjoying more possession than at any point in the match. So far it has all been in front of the Chelsea back six though.
79 min Substitutions galore: Chelsea bring on Ivanovic for Hazard, and West Brom introduce Chadli and McClean for Phillips and Morrison.
78 min That is cruel on West Brom. One mistake has undone 77 minutes’ immaculate work.
This demonstrated everything that is good about Costa. Fabregas lobbed a nothing ball down the right wing, which seemed to be covered by McAuley. Costa made a virtue of a lost cause, muscling McAuley aside before charging into the area. He still had plenty to do from a tightish angle, and he produced a monstrous rising shot across Foster and into the top corner with his left foot. Great goal.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 West Brom (Diego Costa 76)
Diego Costa gives Chelsea the lead with a brilliant goal!
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75 min They will probably receive no credit outside their own dressing-room, but this has been an intelligent, quietly heroic performance from West Brom. There is so much to admire about them and their manager.
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74 min I don’t know if a goal is coming but a chance certainly is - Chelsea are having more sustained pressure in the final third. Fabregas comes on for Moses, so Chelsea are now playing a 4-2-3-1 with “Cesc” behind Diego Costa.
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73 min Fabregas will come on for Chelsea - but only after he’s been show the contents of the coaches’ A4 folder. Can’t have you playing on instinct now!
71 min A draw would take Chelsea top, so 2016 isn’t all bad.
70 min Chelsea have had 72 per cent of possession but only, I think, one shot on target. They have switched to a back four, if you’re into the whole tactics thing.
69 min Matic scrunches a shot well wide from 25 yards.
68 min David Luiz has a long-range shot blocked by Morrison.
67 min Rondon has had a superb game, particularly with his hold-up play. Now he lumbers down the left side of the box and drags an inviting cutback through Luiz’s legs towards the penalty spot. Fletcher, arriving late, looks set for a simple finish from 10 yards only for Cahill to change direction and make a terrific sliding clearance.
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66 min Phillips muscles Willian aside and whips a dangerous cross into the box. Rondon gets there first to stab the ball towards goal but Cahill stretches to make an excellent block.
65 min It feels like Chelsea are building some pressure for the first time in the match.
64 min “Oh no!” says JR. “Evans is hurt! Is Lucas Leiva warming up?”
Look, that was a very disappointing dream, tactically speaking.
63 min Antonio Conte makes a change, bringing on Willian for Pedro. He worked hard but achieved little.
61 min The resulting free-kick from Luiz deflects off Hazard in the wall and bounces just wide of the post. Foster had it covered and helped push it wide; Mike Dean missed that and gave a goalkick for the deflection off Hazard. Robbie Savage, who never made a minor mistake in his entire football career, chastises Dean.
60 min Dawson, already booked, clatters into Costa 25 yards from goal. Most refs would have given a second yellow card for that; Mike Dean Esq. is not most refs. I think it was the right decision, just about.
59 min Jonny Evans is injured. He will try to continue but it doesn’t look good. He has been superb today and would be perfect for a team like, say, Manchester United.
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58 min Chelsea are going through the stages of frustration. We’ve had denial and confusion; now we are on to anger, with West Brom’s clock manipulation their primary source of internal heat.
57 min If Claudio Yacob started a cult, would it be called a Yac- oh never mind.
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56 min Yacob is booked for a tug on Kante.
55 min Courtois races from his line to take Brunt’s inswinger off the head of McAuley. Chelsea need to be careful here. I still think they’ll win, just because, but West Brom have carried a reasonable threat on the counter-attack. They’ve unquestionably been the better team.
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54 min “I think ‘you don’t often see foul throws in the Premier League’ is possibly the most-heard phrase in Premier League commentaries,” says Matt Loten.
What about “there are no easy games in this league” or “Mike Dean awards the penalty”?
52 min West Brom are brazenly timetaking at every opportunity, and the Chelsea fans are getting increasingly irked by that. At the moment, Chelsea look both confused and affronted by West Brom’s defensive excellence.
51 min Dawson is booked for an off-the-ball rumble with Costa. There wasn’t much to it; he just dragged him over.
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50 min Victor Moses is penalised for a foul throw. There will be banter.
49 min Kante is booked for a late tackle on Dawson.
48 min Fabregas for Matic is the obvious change, though Robbie Savage reckons right midfield Willian should replace left wing-back Alonso. For now Conte is sticking the starting XI, and they have made a fast start to the half.
47 min “While I take umbrage with your assertion that Hazard is the best player in ‘this league’ right now - that clearly is Sanchez - I do thank you for that Southampton clip,” says Kelvin. “That truly was a magnificent goal. The best commentary for me was that Agueroooo moment.”
Yes, I regularly reflect fondly on that moment.
46 min Peep peep! Chelsea begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
Slobwatch
“Am currently wearing a pair of ancient fake Crocks in fashionable grubby orange,” says Anthony Webb. “Can any of my fellow readers out-slob that?”
Half-time reading
Barney Ronay on Riyad Mahrez’s quietly divine performance yesterday.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 West Brom
A 0-0 scoreline is a moral victory for West Brom, who defended immaculately and came closer to scoring than Chelsea. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45 min The man of the half has been Glenn Hoddle, who has made umpteen perceptive points of BT Sport. What a waste of a great coach.
44 min Chelsea look a bit befuddled by the way the first half has played out. West Brom have done a job on them.
43 min “I’d be happy to have either Conte or Pulis as the next Scotland manager,” says Simon McMahon. “If they can’t get us third place in the group, no one can.”
Actually, Pulis would be brilliant if he wasn’t, you know, Welsh. If he wasn’t so patriotic, he could be your Jack Charlton.
41 min Chelsea have their first shot on target. David Luiz’s wobbling, dipping free-kick from 25 yards is well held by Foster as he plunges to his right.
41 min “I wish Oscar was playing,” says Sean Boiling, “if only for the commentary that results as the Chelsea forward line exchange a tricky one-two before a goalbound shot is saved by the West Brom keeper, ‘Costa, Oscar, Costa... FOSTER!!’ Imagine a rising pitch, in classic Barry Davies style.”
Or Gerald Sinstadt. This is one of the best commentaries ever.
40 min There are no easy games in “this league”.
38 min Pedro plays a short corner on the left before crossing into the six-yard box. Costa has an impromptu wrestle with Yacob and the two are so preoccupied with trying to manouevre each other into position for a DDT that they don’t notice the ball flash past them and out goal-kick.
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36 min Tactically, this is a fascinating game.
34 min Hazard watch: I think he’s okay now. He shuffles infield from the left before blazing high and wide from the left corner of the box. Chelsea continue to bounce off the brick wall that is West Brom’s defence. This has been an immaculate defensive performance thus far.
33 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Chelsea on an eight-game winning streak, yourself on a three-match MBM streak, JR in Illinois managing two consecutive hours without a drink. All this talk of streaks is making me feel like I should be, like, sending you a Snapchat, yeah?”
That joke went straight over my technophobic head.
32 min Hazard limps back on. He’s moving very awkwardly though, like a walker on the final lap of the Olympic 10km.
31 min Hazard is limping off to receive more treatment. I’m tempted to write that it’s a worrying sign for Chelsea, but I don’t want to insult your intelligence.
29 min McAuley is booked for a lunge at Hazard.
28 min Now Chelsea almost take the lead. Kante’s 25-yard shot was going well wide of the far post when it hit Pedro and deflected fractionally wide of the near post with Foster wrongfooted.
26 min Another chance for West Brom. Rondon takes advantage of some Davidluiz defending from David Luiz, robbing him on the left touchline before moving towards the penalty box. Azpilicueta comes across and seems to have everything covered, but Rondon manufactures a low shot through his legs and just wide of the far post. That was a fine effort, though again I suspect Courtois had it covered.
25 min The Chelsea crowd are starting to get frustrated with the lack of goal-based entertainment. It was always going to be like this, such is the quality of West Brom’s defence. You’d still expect Chelsea to win, maybe 2-0, but so far West Brom have done a number on them.
23 min West Brom will be really pleased with this start. Chelsea haven’t had a shot on goal, for all their breezy possession. Tony Pulis is an exceptional defensive coach.
22 min “As Steve Clarke famously said last season, Leicester ‘played three in midfield, Drinkwater in the middle with Kanté either side’ but that doesn’t mean you need to list him twice on your team sheet,” says Sean Boiling. “Lazy journalism, I expect better from The Guardian etc etc”
I hate it when my subtle plagiarism goes unnoticed.
20 min Brunt is booked for a foul on Costa, a slightly soft yellow card that he’ll regret when Mike Dean sends him off for a second yellow card in the 49th minute.
19 min Brunt almost gives West Brom the lead. He slihtered away from Alonso and Matic 25 yards out before hitting a fierce shot that whistled just wide of the left-hand post. I think Courtois had it covered but it was a lovely strike. West Brom lead 4-0 in shots on goal.
15 min Hazard beats Dawson and plays a nice one-two with Costa, but is caught in two minds as the ball comes back to him and ends up choking it through to Foster. He looks very sharp though, as you’d expect of the best attacking player in the Premier League right now. He has recovered brilliantly for the career-threatening apathy that ruled him out of most of last season.
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13 min Kante plays a crisp pass to Costa on the left of the box. He dupes Dawson before scooting past him to the byline, and eventually his cutback is cleared by Yacob.
10 min West Brom have done well so far, sitting deep when they don’t have the ball and springing purposefully when they do. Chelsea haven’t created anything yet.
6 min An excellent move from West Brom. Morrison and Fletcher combine to find Rondon, who holds the ball up before laying it off to the onrushing right-back Dawson. His near-post cross finds Morrison, who can’t get over the ball and thumps his header well over the bar. It was a half-chance at best.
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5 min Rondon strains his neck muscles to head towards goal, with Courtois making a comfortable save. Rondon was offside anyway.
3 min In a surprising development, West Brom have parked the bus early doors. Not that they have had much choice, as Chelsea have completely dominated possession in the first few minutes.
2 min “Why oh why “lunchtime” kickoff?” asks JR. “Don’t they know what time it is in Illinois? It ain’t lunchtime, I can guarantee you that. And why did I stay up until the wee hours of the morning drinking? And why did I become a Baggies fan anyway? Yeah, I’m aware that sometimes I make poor choices. Anyhow, Thursday night I dreamt that Jonny Evans was injured and they were replacing him with Lucas Leiva. What possible meaning could that dream have? It doesn’t even make any sense.”
Yes, tactically speaking that’s a very poor dream.
1 min Peep peep! West Brom kick off from right to left. They are in black; Chelsea’s colour is blue.
“A third MBM in three games?!” says Matt Loten. “How does the Guardian assign these text commentaries, Rob? Are you just really, really bad at rock, paper, scissors, or does Jacob Steinberg own a double-headed coin? Not that I’m complaining - keep up the good work!”
It’s a palpable reflection of my work ethic, talent, humility, knowledge and sensuality. Nobody else wants to work weekends?
Urgent question
Does anyone know where you can get a decent Acai in London or, better still, Hemel Hempstead? Actually, a rancid one would do. I just need one more hit!
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Team news
Chelsea (3-5-3) Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Matic, Kante, Alonso; Pedro, Diego Costa, Hazard.
Substitutes: Begovic, Aina, Ivanovic, Chalobah, Fabregas, Willian, Batshuayi.
West Brom (4-2-3-1) Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Nyom; Yacob, Fletcher; Brunt, Morrison, Phillips; Rondon.
Substitutes: Palmer; Olsson, Robson-Kanu, Gardner, McClean, Galloway, Chadli.
Referee Mike Dean
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Preamble
Morning. Two months ago, betting was suspended on Antonio Conte being the next Premier League manager to receive a P45. Since then Chelsea have won every league game, and now those same bookies have them as strongish favourites to win the title. The switch to three at the back, made by Antonio Conte when they were 3-0 down at half-time against Arsenal, has catalysed some hugely impressive victories, and they should expect to extend their winning run to nine league games today.
It might not be straightforward though. The revamped West Brom have had a superb season, reminding us again that Tony Pulis is probably the most underrated manager in British football, and his sides are rarely thrashed. A draw would take Chelsea back to the top of the table, but they will only be satisfied with all three points. Quasimodo predicts a 2-0 win. With some good fixtures coming up, Chelsea could easily extend their run to a club-record 13 consecutive wins by the end of the year. Conte in!
Kick off is at 12pm.
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