West Brom 2-2

Independent:

Chelsea 2 West Brom 2
Steve Clarke left crushed by Ramires' fall
Albion suffer rough justice after being denied a famous victory at Chelsea by penalty decision

By GLENN MOORE

Twenty-four hours after Jose Mourinho declared of diving, “I hate it, but I don’t have a problem as none of my players do it,” his unbeaten league record at Stamford Bridge was rescued by an example of the genre from Ramires. The Brazilian tumbled to the floor in the 94th and final minute of this pulsating match. It may have been a dive, it may have been Ramires lost control of his legs, either way it should not have been a penalty.
Andre Marriner thought differently and Eden Hazard converted the spot-kick to end his difficult week on a positive note and deny Steve Clarke a famous victory over his former boss.
Behind to an injury-time first-half goal from Samuel Eto’o, Albion had scored twice in eight second-half minutes through Shane Long and Stéphane Sessègnon – the latter due to a howler by Petr Cech. They had chances to kill the game but seemed set for victory when Ramires burst into the box and hit the deck as Steven Reid came in to tackle. Ben Foster, Albion’s injured goalkeeper, tweeted in apparent response: ‘A load of shit’.
“It was a penalty,” insisted Mourinho with a straight face. “I wasn’t sure from the bench but I have seen it on television.” He must have been watching a different screen to Clarke who said, after viewing a series of replays: “I am flabbergasted at the decision. I can’t believe he gave it. It was a bad decision. [Ramires] started going down early, before the contact. "
Clarke added: “It is very, very hard to take. I am very disappointed and very sad for my team as they deserved the three points, but I’m proud of my team too.”
Mourinho felt his team deserved at least a point as Albion had “not crossed the halfway line in the first half”. That is reasonably accurate, but given the clubs’ respective resources it was up to Chelsea to break them down.
That they struggled to do. A well-drilled back four is a thing of rare beauty and Albion’s operates with clockwork precision. With distances between defenders expertly maintained, and Jonas Olsson  calling the ‘step up’, ‘drop off’, movement, they kept Chelsea restricted to the free-kicks Claudio Yacob kept conceding. Oscar brought a good save from Boaz Myhill from one of these but it was still a surprise when Chelsea broke though.
The architect was Hazard, dropped against Schalke in midweek as punishment for missing training on Monday following a cross-Channel trip. He cut in from the right, evading challenges, before driving a low shot towards the far post. Myhill went full length to palm the ball out and Liam Ridgewell should have cleared. But he paused to allow the ball to run across his body so he could kick with his left foot and Eto’o nipped in to poke the ball past the prone keeper.
As Eto’o’s recent embarrassing of goalkeepers David Marshall and Timo Hildebrand has shown, the veteran striker may not be quite as quick over 20 yards as he once what, but his mind is as sharp as ever.
The irony was, having been forced to come out Albion outplayed Chelsea. Long headed against the post from a Morgan Amalfitano cross before heading in the loose ball after Cech had parried a point-blank Gareth McAuley header from an Amalfitano corner. Then Sessègnon robbed Branislav Ivanovic – “a bad mistake by the referee, it was a foul”, said Mourinho; “not a foul” said Clarke, “just good pressure”. The Benin striker traded passes with Ridgewell then shot weakly, but under Cech’s dive.
Mourinho, who dropped Ashley Cole for the match, preferring Cesar Azpilicueta at left-back, introduced Juan Mata among a trio of substitutions and went to three at the back. With Mata orchestrating the attacks they laid siege to Albion’s goal. Myhill saved an Ivanovic volley, Willian headed over Hazard’s cross, Demba Ba somehow failed to connect with a Gary Cahill cross.
With John Terry and Cahill playing as auxilary stikers, and John Obi Mikel sweeping, Albion broke and Chris Brunt should have scored. The seconds ticked by and had Goran Popov taken the ball into the corner flag instead of trying an ambitious shot in the 94th minute, Albion would have won. Instead Chelsea went forward one last time. “Chelsea had run out of ideas,” said Clarke. “They were lumping the ball into the box, they were waiting for a lucky break, and they got it.”

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta (Mikel, 72); Ramires, Lampard (Ba, 64); Willian, Oscar (Mata, 72), Hazard; Eto’o.

West Bromwich (4-4-1-1): Myhill; Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Amalfitano (Popov, 88), Mulumbu, Yacob, Brunt; Sessègnon (Morrison, 81); Long (Anichebe, 79).

Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Olsson (West Bromwich)
Match rating: 7/10

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Observer:

Chelsea deny West Bromwich victory with contentious late penalty

Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge

Escapes such as this merely fuel the sense that José Mourinho is invincible when it comes to Premier League matches in this arena. Chelsea seemed beaten here as the fourth and final minute of stoppage time ticked down, their desperate gameplan apparently spent with Goran Popov in possession deep inside the home half, Petr Cech off his line and home players strewn upfield as if accepting of their fate.
Had the West Bromwich Albion substitute taken the ball into the corner and wasted the last few seconds, rather than attempting an unlikely shot from an unkind angle, then his side might have added a victory at Stamford Bridge to that already achieved at Old Trafford this season. As it is, that wait for a first win here since 1978 goes on. Chelsea reclaimed the ball, Ramires bustled into the area and tumbled under contact of some kind with Steven Reid. The clock read 93 minutes and 41 seconds when Andre Marriner, after a pause as if for dramatic effect, pointed to the spot.
It was the type of flashpoint that provoked immediate confusion over whether the official had spotted a foul or a dive, and debate over whether Ramires was en route to the turf prior to impact or sent sprawling by Reid's intervention. The managers, predictably, agreed to disagree. By the time Eden Hazard's penalty had billowed the net, extending the Portuguese's unbeaten league run here to 66 matches, the injured West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster had tweeted his own sense of deflation. "Load of shit," he offered. His team-mates made their feelings just as clear out on the pitch.
Chris Brunt and Jonas Olsson took their frustrations out on the officials, barking their disappointment at Marriner, an afternoon of admirable endeavour having been soured at the last. Steve Clarke's side can be inconsistent, blown away at Anfield one week but just as capable of winning at Manchester United, but they had been solidly impressive here. Well drilled and feverishly industrious, they had blunted the hosts in the opening period until their concentration wavered on the stroke of half-time. Once behind they were compelled to be slightly more expansive, only to excel yet more persuasively with their strength in the air and pace on the counterattack.
Shane Long had already thumped a header on to a post from Morgan Amalfitano's centre when the winger's delivery duly prompted panic at a corner just after the hour-mark. Gareth McAuley, such a threat at set-plays with his muscular presence and charge on to the cross, might have scored only for Petr Cech to push the attempt 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, perhaps assuming its arc might take it over the bar and away, but it was Long who reacted smartest, springing up above all three to deposit his own header beyond Cech and in.
Mourinho bemoaned that defensive indecision, the concession too sloppy for comfort particularly given his side had succumbed on their last league outing at Newcastle and had considered this an opportunity to eat into Arsenal's lead at the top. Yet he was incensed seven minutes later when Stéphane Sessègnon's dispossession of Ivanovic just inside the Albion half was deemed legal. "Even the fourth official said I was right [to complain]," he offered having watched Sessègnon leave the Serb on the floor and break at pace, exchange passes with Liam Ridgewell, and then cut inside Terry to eke out space for a shot.
The attempt was scuffed and might have been stopped with ease, only to scuttle under Cech's loose attempt to save and Chelsea were breached yet again. Had Ivanovic been fouled in the build-up? "No," said Clarke. "They pressured us in midfield through the first half. When we do it very well on a Chelsea player, why is it suddenly a foul?"
Thereafter the home side cast caution aside and, had their opponents been more ruthless, might have been buried on the break. Those chances Chelsea created themselves were missed, Boaz Myhill springing to turn aside Ivanovic's shot and Willian heading over from point-blank range, before Ramires earned a reprieve and Hazard, his passport and place in the side restored, claimed a point.
"We deserved a draw," said Mourinho. "We were the only team who tried to score in that half."
The visitors had been unambitious but comfortable until virtually the half-time whistle, when Gary Cahill's cross-field pass was controlled on the chest by Hazard who cut in from the left flank and ran at Reid. The Belgian skimmed a low shot towards the far corner which Myhill pushed out and Ridgewell should then have cleared. But as he waited for the ball to come across his body, 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. By the end, that sense of exasperation had been exacerbated.

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Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 West Bromwich Albion 2

By Jason Burt, Stamford Bridge

Eden Hazard was dropped after forgetting his passport. On Saturday he delivered a pass of his own for Jose Mourinho by scoring a hugely contentious 95th-minute penalty which preserved the Special One’s special record of never having lost a league match at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho had refused to accept Hazard’s apology after his fateful – and absent-minded – trip to Lille last weekend but here was an acceptable response from the player he continually refers to as the “kid”.
But that record of 65 matches should have gone.West Bromwich Albion should also have recorded a unique double of winning at both Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford this season – and a first victory here since 1978 – as apprentice turned sorcerer Steve Clarke outsmarted Mourinho, who cut a figure of incredulous frustration as the clock ticked.
How his team laboured, with that old guard of Petr Cech, John Terry and Frank Lampard creaking and Chelsea indebted to an incredible passage of good fortune in the final moments of this intriguing encounter. A slow burner that eventually crackled.
The climax started with West Brom captain Chris Brunt breaking. Three on one. He foolishly decided to go alone and ballooned a shot over. Then substitute Goran Popov, rather than retaining possession, ridiculously attempted a shot from the touchline.
It gave Chelsea one last chance to pour forward – Ramires ran into the penalty area, Steven Reid ran across and the Brazilian hit the turf. Easily – although he might argue his momentum took him over. Andre Marriner pointed to the penalty spot and West Brom were apoplectic, with the referee brandishing cards in the confusion.
But Hazard stayed calm. He may have been omitted from the midweek Champions League tie at home to Schalke because he missed a training session after mislaying his passport on a flying visit to his former club, but Mourinho had restored him to the starting line-up. In truth he had done little all afternoon but he coolly dispatched the penalty.
Had Hazard not scored then Mourinho would have been staring at back-to-back league defeats and the brewing of a crisis. There would also have been more discussion of his handling of his players – with Ashley Cole, for example, dropped and Juan Mata on the bench again.
Even so Chelsea dropped points. Again. November is often a difficult month for them, with poor runs of form in recent years and five points have been mislaid in the last two league matches. Mourinho also complained about his team having to play on Saturday while other Champions League clubs had 24 hours more rest.
Chelsea certainly looked jaded. Mourinho complained – again – accusing West Brom of not wanting to venture over halfway and putting up a “double wall”, but that was a disservice. There was far more wit to the visitors than that, even if they were unadventurous until falling behind, and Mourinho knew it. Instead his team huffed and puffed.
Little happened in that first half. The crowd probably half expected tumbleweed to drift across the pitch. Goalkeeper Boaz Myhill smartly tipped over Oscar’s free-kick and it seemed to be meandering to the interval until there was a dreadful mistake by Liam Ridgewell. After Myhill had done well to push out Hazard’s cross-shot, Ridgewell dawdled. And dawdled. He was waiting for the ball to run across his body to his stronger left foot instead of simply clearing – surely he can kick with his right – and Samuel Eto’o nipped in to stab the ball home.
Little wonder Clarke talked about being “mugged”. Surely that would settle Chelsea? Not so. Instead it was West Brom who showed the attacking intent.
Shane Long delivered the warning, beating Gary Cahill, only for his header to come back off a post – and then delivered the equaliser.
A corner was met powerfully by Gareth McAuley and Cech reacted superbly to push it out. But the ball dropped back into the six-yard area. Fatally Terry tried to create space rather than attack the ball, and Long jumped above him to nod it into the net.
Chelsea were stunned and then shocked. As Mourinho complained bitterly that Branislav Ivanovic was fouled – even claiming fourth official Scott Mathieson agreed with him and somehow should have intervened – West Brom broke. Stephane Sessegnon exchanged passes with Ridgewell and easily skirted to the right of the back-pedalling Terry. His shot was low and not particularly strong but it beat Cech, who was clearly at fault.
Chelsea reeled. And then they threw the kitchen sink. In fact they threw the sink, the bath – everything they could get hold of. They poured forward and Myhill pushed out Ivanovic’s half-volley and substitute Demba Ba made a hash of a chance, trying to flick the ball home and missing it completely from Cahill’s low cross. Then came that frantic final minute.

Match details
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 5; Ivanovic 5, Cahill 6, Terry 4, Azpilicueta 6 (Mikel, 73); Ramires 6, Lampard 5 (Ba, 64); Willian 6, Oscar 6 (Mata, 73), Hazard 5; Eto’o 5.
Subs: Schwarzer (g), Cole, Luiz, De Bruyne.
Booked: Ivanovic, Lampard, Eto’o.

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-1-1): Myhill 7; Reid 6, McAuley 6, Olsson 7, Ridgewell 4; Amalifitano 7 (Popov, 89), Mulumbu 6, Yacob 7, Brunt 5; Sessegnon 6 (Morrison, 81); Long 7 (Anichebe, 79).
Subs: Daniels (g), Vydra, Dawson, Berahino.
Booked: Ridgewell, Yacob, McAuley, Olsson, Amalifitano, Long, Brunt.

Referee: A Marriner (W Midlands).

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Mail:

Chelsea 2 West Brom 2: Baggies fume as Hazard saves Mourinho's home record with controversial penalty deep into injury time
By Rob Draper

Maybe Jose Mourinho is right. Perhaps there is no such thing as a curse on Chelsea in November. For Saturday, they were as lucky as you can be.
For the past three seasons, the west London club have capitulated in November, effectively surrendering their title hopes. This time, they avoided their second successive defeat of the month — but only with a huge slice of fortune.
Flat and uninspired for long periods, they salvaged a point three-and-a-half minutes into four minutes of time added on with a dubious penalty.
West Bromwich Albion had done the hard yards. They had defended manfully and then overcome a dreadful goal conceded just before half-time to come back to take a 2-1 lead. They had even wasted excellent chances to go 3-1 up, with Chris Brunt shooting over on 91 minutes when Victor Anichebe was in a great position to score.
Even then, with more than 93 minutes on the clock, Goran Popov rushed to control a ball deep inside Chelsea’s half. He kept the ball in play and needed only to head for the corner flag for Mourinho to experience his first defeat at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.
It would have been a seminal moment. Instead, Popov tried a cross, which was intercepted, Chelsea broke and Ramires carried the ball into the penalty area. As the Brazilian ran out of options, he stumbled, ran into Steven Reid and fell down, appealing for a decision.
For a moment it appeared justice would be done, as referee Andre Marriner did nothing. But then came the fateful whistle. Eden Hazard dispatched the penalty with 20 seconds left on the clock, at least providing a degree of redemption for his problematic weekend jaunt to Lille.
But there were no redeeming features for West Bromwich. ‘I’m flabbergasted at the decision,’ said Albion boss Steve Clarke. ‘I can’t believe he [Marriner] gave it. I’ve been in the game a long time and I knew he [Ramires] was already on the way down before anyone was near him. The referee has to be 100 per cent sure. How he can be 100 per cent sure is beyond me.’
Mourinho had condemned diving in his pre-match press conference and said the Premier League should use video replays to shame players. Did Ramires stumble or dive? Whatever, he appealed as he went down.
‘You can put a label on it if you want,’ said Clarke, ‘but the onus is on the referee to make the right decision. It should have been a fantastic result for us, but it’s just a good result in the end.’
For Mourinho, it was a penalty. ‘It came at a moment when it’s difficult for the team that is winning to accept, but this one was a penalty,’ he said. ‘From the bench, I don’t know. But on the screen, no doubts.’
However, Mourinho had his own battles to fight. Albion’s second goal came from a move that had started with what looked like a foul by Stephane Sessegnon on Branislav Ivanovic. ‘It’s a free-kick just in front of fourth official,’ said the Chelsea manager. ‘It’s a big mistake from the  referee.’
And he had his team to defend, declaring himself: ‘Absolutely satisfied. The attitude in the first half was absolutely the correct one: be patient, wait, difficult to break a wall, wait for a mistake. After their  second goal our reacton could be, “Die” or “Fight for life”. And the team fought for life.’
It is true that Willian and Demba Ba had chances to equalise before the penalty and that Mourinho went to a now-familiar back three in search of the goal, even summoning the out-of-favour Juan Mata from the bench. Eventually, he had his reward.
But the first half was a turgid affair and Chelsea had managed to create hardly anything — a superb Oscar free-kick apart, which Boaz Myhill tipped over — until Hazard cut inside and forced a save from Myhill. From the deflection, Liam Ridgewell dallied horrendously, allowing Samuel Eto’o to charge in and thump the rebound home on the stroke of half-time.
Yet West Bromwich responded better, with Shane Long forcing a great save from Petr Cech on 57 minutes. Then, from Morgan Amalfitano’s corner on 61 minutes, Gareth McAuley powered a header which Cech parried. Frank Lampard and John Terry both stood uncharacteristically still as Long leapt, hungrier to win the ball, and headed in from close range.
West Bromwich were ahead seven minutes later. Though Sessegnon had appeared to foul Ivanovic, he then fed Ridgwell, who turned the full-back smartly to find  Sessegnon again, who stepped inside Terry to shoot home, with Cech seemingly wrong-footed.
Myhill would be forced to make a save from Ivanovic on 75 minutes and there were those late chances for Ba and  Willian. But Chelsea were faltering, their cohesion lost and their creativity in question.
It might have ended luckily in the end, but they have not yet done enough to  banish the idea of that November curse.

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Express:

Chelsea 2 - West Brom 2: Jose Mourinho saved in spot-kick storm

TEN seconds to go. Just 10 seconds to the end of Jose Mourinho’s proud record of never losing a Premier League match at home as manager of Chelsea.
By: Jim Holden
But it couldn’t happen, of course it couldn’t. Not to the Special One. He couldn’t lose 2-1 at home to West Brom. His magic run could not be crushed.
Mourinho had to be saved somehow, and salvation came from the softest penalty decision you will see in a long time as Ramires fell down when he touched shoulders running at speed with defender Steven Reid.
Referee Andre Marriner pointed to the spot, sparking fury among the Albion players, and launching a nationwide debate about how such decisions always favour big clubs over the smaller ones.
Eden Hazard kept his cool, no mean feat in the circumstances, and scored the penalty to claim a draw for Chelsea, while the West Brom players were distraught at being robbed of the glory they deserved. As for Mourinho? He gave Hazard a kiss and this time gladly accepted the hazards of fate.
Most weeks during his career Mourinho has been full of conspiracy theories, raging about his club getting the rough end of the stick.
Even before this match he had been moaning about the fixture compilers who had brazenly given his team a schedule of playing on Wednesday and then Saturday.
It sounded oh-so hollow as the final whistle blew yesterday. So were his words afterwards, claiming with an absolutely straight face that: “Yes it was a definite penalty.
“Of course it is difficult for the team that is winning to accept this, but I have seen it on video and it is a penalty.”
West Brom manager Steve Clarke saw it very differently, and most neutrals will share his sentiments. “It’s very hard to take and I’m very sad for my team,” he said. “It was a bad decision because it wasn’t a penalty in my view. The player was already going to ground before any contact was made.
“I’m not putting any label on that. The onus is on the referee to make the correct decision. He has to be 100 per cent sure it is a penalty and I don’t see how you can be.
“It was the kind of penalty that can be given when the home crowd are shouting for everything in a game.”
West Brom’s dismay was understandable. They had played with such purpose throughout, and even Chelsea’s first goal, just before half-time, was a gift.
Hazard had drifted in from the right and fired in a low shot that was well saved by keeper Boaz Myhill. The ball fell straight to the feet of defender Liam Ridgewell, who had plenty of time to hack it away to safety.
Instead, bizarrely, foolishly, he wanted time to think. Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o wasted no such mental energy and quick as a flash stabbed the ball into the gaping goal.
Ridgewell was mortified, lying face down on the pitch in horror.
The response from his team-mates after the break was stunning, as they found ambition and purpose to rock Chelsea with their football.
Shane Long headed against a post in the 50th minute and then scored the equaliser 10 minutes later.
Gareth McAuley had seen a powerful header from a corner brilliantly stopped by Chelsea keeper Petr Cech, but the diminutive Long climbed high above John Terry to head in the rebound.
Eight minutes later West Brom were in the lead. They counter-attacked after a strong tackle on Branislav Ivanovic in midfield and the move was finished by Stephane Sessegnon with a left-foot shot.
Mourinho threw caution to the wind with attacking substitutions, and Myhill had to save from Ivanovic and Ramires while Willian headed a chance over the bar.
As the match went into stoppage time the tension was palpable with Mourinho’s record in dire peril. Chris Brunt missed a chance to seal victory for West Brom on a counter-attack, shooting over the bar when he might have passed.
Then, with 30 seconds on the clock, Goran Popov tried to score from long range rather than take the ball to the corner flag and see out time.
Chelsea broke forward, the referee awarded the contentious penalty, and Mourinho had his moment of salvation.

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