Escapes like this merely fuel the sense that José Mourinho is simply invincible when it comes to Premier League matches in this arena. Chelsea were apparently beaten here, their game-plan
long since desperate and panic-strewn, when Ramires bustled into the area one.last time and tumbled under vague contact from Steven Reid. The clock read
93 minutes and 41 seconds when Andre Marriner, after a pause for effect, pointed belatedly to the spot.
While visiting players struggled to contain their sense of outrage, Eden Hazard slid in the resultant penalty to extend the hosts'
unbeaten run here to 66 league matches under the Portuguese. Tempers boiled over again in the immediate aftermath,.Jonas Olsson and Chris Brunt incensed and taking their frustrations out on the
officials, and after the final whistle
seconds later.
The visitors knew they
should have added success at Stamford Bridge to their victory at Old Trafford earlier this season, but it was not to be. Chelsea, even with another sloppy display that merited so little, could breathe a
collective sigh of relief.
Boaz Myhill, previously so assured, dived to push gary cahills effort away and Liam Ridgewell, the covering left-back, should then have completed the clearance. But
as the full-back waited for the ball to come across his body and on to his left foot, there was Samuel Eto'o, sneaking up on the blind side, to wrap his foot around
the full-back and ram the loose ball into the gaping net. Myhill buried his head in the turf in disgust. His team's solidity up
to then had deserved better than such a wasteful concession, though visiting teams are being embarrassed too regularly by Eto'o in front of the Shed end these days.
West Brom's response was spirited,
Olsson nodding over the bar before Shane Long drifted away from Cahill and headed Morgan Amalfitano's cross on to the
outside of a post as Petr Cech scurried across his line. That was a sign of things.to come, with Chelsea's apparent vulnerability in the air all too evident.
Morgan Amalfitano dully delivered a corner just after the hour-mark that Gareth McAuley headed goalwards, Cech pushing the shot up rather than out. John Terry, Frank Lampard and Branislav
Ivanovic were all inside the six-yard box watching the ball loop high into the early evening gloom, but it was Long who reacted, springing up above all three to
thump his own header beyond Cech and in.
They had cause for complaint seven
minutes later that the referee did not spot a foul on Ivanovic as possession was surrendered just inside the Albion half, but panic set in thereafter. Stéphane
Sessègnon broke and exchanged passes with Liam Ridgewell, the Frenchman cutting inside Terry and spitting a low left- foot shot at goal that Cech should have
saved with ease. Yet the effort scuttled under the goalkeeper's flop to save and Chelsea were breached once again.
Myhill's reactions were smarter at the other end, diving to turn away Ivanovic's shot amid a cluttered penalty area,.though Willian should have beaten him with a free header inside the six-yard box. Yet Albion still had clear opportunities to add a third on the counter until they were punished, mystifyingly, at the last. Ramires's tumble was eager, the visitors' reaction furious.
But Chelsea, somehow, had avoided successive league defeats at the last.
No comments:
Post a Comment