Sam Allardyce says Thiago Silva was lucky to make it even 29 minutes before his red card against West Bromwich Albion.
Chelsea were stunned by the relegation-threatened Baggies at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, seeing their 15-game unbeaten record across all competitions slip with a 5-2 defeat.
The Blues took the lead in the tie through Christian Pulisic, but it all went wrong from there, and Silva's red card for a lunge on the 29th minute did not help.
The Brazilian veteran made his return after a number of weeks out injured, but it was short-lived, and it should have been even shorter, according to West Brom boss Allardyce.
"I think we are really pleased and satisfied because of how the players applied our tactics today," he told BT Sport after the game. "We set out to control Chelsea's attacks and then with what we could do in possession of the ball.
"We ended up being so good in possession of the ball and the quality of finishing was the best it has been since I have been here. We deserved the win today.
"People will always look at the fact they went down to 10 men, but I have been manager of many teams with 10 men that have won and not lost.
"We took advantage, and I thought we started the game really brightly, I thought we created chances and Silva was lucky to stay on when he pulled Pereira back with two hands when he maybe could have gone through and scored a goal.
"We recovered from the goal they scored and did brilliantly today."
A delighted Allardyce added: "They [the goals] were all quality. Not just the finish but the build-ups. We kept the ball moving forward and that will always bring you quality, no matter who you are playing.
"It's a shame we couldn't produce some of those finishes in some of the other games because we would have more points, but I have to be totally satisfied."
