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West Brom score five to inflict Thomas Tuchel's first Chelsea defeat in thriller

Matt Law
·27 min read
West Brom score five to inflict Thomas Tuchel's first Chelsea defeat in thriller - AFP
West Brom score five to inflict Thomas Tuchel's first Chelsea defeat in thriller - AFP

  • Thiago Silva sent off on his return to Chelsea starting XI

  • Robinson and Pereira score twice in stunning turnaround

Manager of the Month for March and on the back of a 14-game unbeaten run, Thomas Tuchel must have been thinking that being head coach of Chelsea was a piece of cake.

But in terms of reality checks, this was as big as they come and Tuchel paid the price for his chopping and changing as Chelsea’s Champions League qualification hopes suffered a shock blow.

Credit must go to West Bromwich Albion and, in particular, Matheus Pereira, who produced a brilliant performance in which he scored twice and assisted another two goals.

Substitute Callum Robinson must wish he could play Chelsea every week, as his latest double made it five career Premier League goals for the striker - all of which have come against the Blues.

Sam Allardyce, who was once accused of playing “19th Century football” during his time as West Ham manager at Chelsea, is now the first Premier League manager to win at Stamford Bridge with three different clubs - Bolton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and West Brom.

Premier League 2020/21 latest standings (top six)

But for all Albion’s brilliance, Chelsea and Tuchel were in many ways architects of their own downfall, as Thiago Silva was sent-off on his return to the team and Antonio Rudiger, who has been excellent in recent weeks, was badly missed at the back.

Mason Mount and Kai Havertz both had to be called from the substitutes’ bench, but top scorer Tammy Abraham was again not in Tuchel’s squad and his other striker, Olivier Giroud, did not make it on to the pitch.

Tuchel’s rotation policy has worked wonders since his arrival as Frank Lampard’s successor, but leaving out Rudiger, Andreas Christensen - who replaced Silva - Mount, Ben Chilwell and Havertz ahead of Wednesday night’s first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Porto backfired spectacularly.

Chelsea’s defence had not conceded a goal at Stamford Bridge under Tuchel before Saturday, but they were opened up five times after Silva collected his second yellow card and was sent off in the 29th minute. Even accounting for the fact they were down to 10 men, it was shambolic.

Referee David Coote (R) shows Chelsea's Brazilian defender Thiago Silva (2R) the red card  - AFP
Referee David Coote (R) shows Chelsea's Brazilian defender Thiago Silva (2R) the red card - AFP

It is hard to imagine that Silva, a league title winner with AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain and just seven shy of 100 caps for Brazil, worried about West Brom too much before arriving at Chelsea.

But the Baggies have officially become the Brazilian’s bogey team. It was at the Hawthorns that Silva suffered a shaky Premier League debut, gifting the home team a goal in September, and on Saturday, when West Brom visited Stamford Bridge, Silva was shown his first red card for eight years.

And if Chelsea miss out on Champions League qualification, then they will look back at the fact they squandered four points, conceding eight goals in the process, against a team that have spent the entire season in the bottom three.

Premier League 2020/21 latest standings (bottom five)

In fairness to Silva, Jorginho must shoulder a large part of the blame for his two yellow cards, but the 36 year-old may well now be hoping that West Brom get relegated so that he can avoid them in future.

There was a Var check for a red card after Silva’s first offence in just the fourth minute, when he pulled back Pereira after Jorginho had played his team-mate into terrible trouble with a stray pass.

It was just two minutes after Chelsea had taken the lead, when Christian Pulisic converted after Marcos Alonso’s free-kick had hit the post, that Jorginho made life difficult for Silva again with another poor pass and the defender was too late with a challenge on Okay Yokuslu.

Referee David Coote did not hesitate in showing Silva a second yellow card and the game turned on its head with the brilliant Pereira producing two superb finishes in first-half stoppage time.

The Brazilian’s first goal came courtesy of a long kick from goalkeeper Sam Johnstone that the Chelsea defence made a complete mess off, but he still needed to lift the ball over Edouard Mendy perfectly to level the scores.

Jorginho was then involved in his third moment of calamity, as he and Reece James conspired to lose possession and Mbaye Diagne was able to lay the ball off for Pereira who sold a dummy before producing an excellent finish to put Albion ahead at the break.

Robinson had been sent on to replace former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, who had suffered an injury just 13 minutes after stepping off the bench, following Silva’s sending off.

And, while Silva will hope never to see West Brom again, Robinson must have been licking his lips at the prospect of going up against Chelsea’s 10 men, having enjoyed so much recent success against them.

Robinson netted twice in West Brom’s 3-3 draw with Chelsea at the Hawthorns, having also scored against the London club for Sheffield United last season. The first of his latest double came in the 63rd minute, moments after Pereira had squandered a big chance.

Darnell Furlong crossed from the right and Robinson, who had started the move, arrived late into the box to direct a brilliant volley past Mendy.

Five minutes later it was effectively game over as Pereira set up Diagne to finish neatly and a quick reply from Mount, thanks to unselfish work from Timo Werner, could not inspire any sort of fightback from the home side.

In fact, it was Robinson who added to the scoreline again in time added on for stoppages, from another Pereira pass, to complete an embarrassing afternoon for Tuchel and Chelsea, and give West Brom some hope that they may yet be able to produce a great escape.

Tuchel has proved himself to be an excellent Chelsea head coach while things have been going well and now we are set to see whether he is just as good in adversity.

Tuchel: 'We cannot lose our heads'

Chelsea's head coach has called on his players to keep it together after his 14-game unbeaten run was smashed by West Brom.

Allardyce claimed his team “demolished” Chelsea and the result not only ended Tuchel’s unbeaten run since replacing Lampard, but also put a severe dent in the London club’s hopes of clinching Champions League qualification.

And with Wednesday night’s first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Porto to prepare for, Tuchel stressed this is not a time to panic after suffering his first defeat in charge.

“We cannot, after 14 games, lose our heads and this cannot take away the trust in the players,” he said. “It was a moment to be calm and honest [in the dressing room] and it will be a hard afternoon and evening for everybody.

“We have to accept the loss together and it is important to deal with it together, and I am part of it. Nothing will change, there was no scheduled group day off apart from for individual players who had travelled a lot, and nothing will change.”

Tuchel left out a number of his players who had been away with their countries, with Mount, Havertz, Rudiger, Christensen and Chilwell starting on the substitutes’ bench, while Abraham was not even in the squad.

“People will question my team selection and I will as well, but we will never know [whether or not I got it wrong],” said Tuchel. “We are very, very disappointed because we hate to lose and I did not see this coming but we were rusty and sloppy.

“There were two games. One game was 11 v 11 when we were sloppy and we had big, big counter-attack chances. And the other was 10 v 11 and we were not able to adapt when we were a man down. It was no reason to concede five goals.”

Allardyce responded to the result by setting his team the challenge of winning at least five more of their remaining eight games to stand any chance of staying up.

“We need five wins to have a chance and that might not be enough, but let’s start with our next game against Southampton and get another excellent victory,” he said.

“It was a quality performance, the way we demolished Chelsea, and we have to keep that going. Chelsea had an undefeated record since the new manager arrived and we demolished them.

“It was the quality of the West Brom performance today, not because Chelsea were off form. They were off form because we were so good.

“We set out to control Chelsea attacks and see what we could do in possession, I have to say because we ended up being so good in possession on so many occasions, the finishing was the best it has been since I have been here. People will see they went down to 10 men and so forth, but I have managed plenty of teams with 10 men that have won and not lost. We took full advantage.”

01:39 PM

Callum Robinson speaks

"It's an unbelievable day. It's been a tough season but it's nice to come here and get so many goals and really enjoy it. It's a good day all round. Hopefully I've managed to stake a claim for a place in the team. It's been hard for me. I went away for the international break and enjoyed my time. When the boss gave me some minutes I wanted to prove to him I should be in team."

01:32 PM

What a game

01:27 PM

FT: Chelsea 2 West Brom 5

One of the results of this season, or any season in fact. Nobody gave West Brom a chance today, they went a goal down and lost two defenders through injuries but rallied to score some brilliant goals against Chelsea's 10 men. It gives them a sniff of survival and opens up the Champions League race. Tuchel's first defeat/

01:24 PM

93 minutes

How Chelsea respond to their first defeat under Tuchel will be one to watch. A Champions League tie against Porto awaits them this week.

01:23 PM

GOOOOAAALL! West Brom add another

Yet again, it is a wonderful team move. Pereira slips the ball down the side of the Chelsea defence for Robinson who dinks the ball over Mendy into the far corner. After a Var check the goal stands.

01:22 PM

90 minutes

Four minutes of added time to play.

01:20 PM

89 minutes

The clock is ticking down now and West Brom are very nearly there.

01:20 PM

87 minutes

Nervous stuff from West Brom at the back, on a couple of occasions they looked in danger of conceding penalties, but they are rewarded for their dogged defending after a big tackle from Bartley.

01:16 PM

84 minutes

Kovacic has probably been Chelsea's best player today, he shows great technique again to get out of a tight spot in midfield. Good defending from Townsend to usher the ball behind with Mount lurking with intent.

01:13 PM

82 minutes

West Brom will be delighted that the game has gone quiet for a few minutes. Azpilicueta looks for the run of Werner but the pass it too heavy.

01:10 PM

80 minutes

Mendy comes for a corner and fumbles but Chelsea survive. Then Werner very nearly latches on to a through ball from Kovacic but Johnstone palms the ball clear.

01:08 PM

78 minutes

Timo Werner wants a free-kick just outside the area after a foul by Bartley but nothing doing from the referee. West Brom are starting to look a bit twitchy now, understandably perhaps.

01:07 PM

76 minutes

A chance comes a goes for Chelsea from that corner. Zouma met it on the volley but could not keep the shot down.

01:06 PM

West Brom's fourth

01:06 PM

75 minutes

West Brom trying to to keep the ball in midfield and draw the sting out of this. They could get relegated after getting results away at Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. The home team have a corner though.

01:04 PM

73 minutes

Another Chelsea change, Havertz comes on for Jorginho. They still have a good 20 minutes to retrieve this situation. Kovacic does well to dribble out of a spot of bother in his own half.

01:03 PM

West Brom's brilliant third

01:02 PM

GOOOOAAALL! Chelsea have one back

The deficit is back to two. Alonso gets in behind the West Brom defence, squares the ball to Werner in the penalty box who keeps his head to lay the ball off for Mount to poke into an empty net.

01:01 PM

69 minutes

Then Johnstone produces a great save to deny Mount at the other end. This has been a crazy game.

01:00 PM

GOOOAAAAL! West Brom score another

Chelsea have fallen apart here, but that's more composed and surgical football. Pereira releases Townsend in behind Mount with a good pass. He plays to the ball back to Pereira who squares for Diagne who side-foots the ball into the bottom corner.

12:58 PM

67 minutes

Zouma tries to win a header in the penalty area but West Brom get it clear.

12:56 PM

65 minutes

Chelsea need to throw the kitchen sink at this now. This result opens the door to almost every team in the top half to think they have a chance of fourth. Kovacic is shown a yellow card.

12:55 PM

GOOOOOALLL! What a goal by West Brom

That is an absolute peach. West Brom are playing green and yellow and it really is like watching Brazil!

They work a good triangle down the right to free Furlong on the overlap and he pulls a chipped cross back to Robinson who slams home a volley from around the penalty spot. Wonderful goal. That should be game over.

12:53 PM

61 minutes

Pereira so close to a hat-trick! Really nice over from Diagne to drag the Chelsea backline out of shape and create the space for Pereira to drive into the penalty area and let fly with his left foot. Too close to Mendy who saves with his feet.

12:51 PM

60 minutes

Alonso's low cross is just behind Werner. I'm not quite sure this is the right kind of game for Werner through the middle. Chelsea need a more dominant presence in the box.

12:49 PM

58 minutes

Maitland-Niles with a foray forward down the left but the flag goes up for offside against Robinson. Chelsea work the ball out from the back well and Kovacic fizzes a shot towards goal from just outside the D. A slight deflection puts it behind. Zouma's side-footed volley goes just over.

12:47 PM

56 minutes

Chelsea have a free-kick on the left-hand corner of the penalty area. Mount over it, will be an inswinger with his right foot. Mount shoots, but the ball flies just wide of the near post. Johnstone was rooted, cracking effort.

12:45 PM

53 minutes

Delightful pass from Kovacic to feed Alonso down the left but Furlong slides in to block the cross. Then Chelsea hit the post after a bizarre sequence of play. James skewed a volley straight up in the air and Johnstone flapped at it and Alonso struck the post an unguarded net on the swivel. West Brom breathe a sigh of relief.

12:43 PM

51 minutes

Chelsea with a loose square pass in midfield but Pereira shoots when he had options with him on the counter-attack. West Brom have settled pretty well since the break.

12:41 PM

49 minutes

West Brom win some territory with a throw in deep in the Chelsea half. They aim a long one towards Ajayi who fouls Alonso in the penalty area.

12:39 PM

47 minutes

Both teams take turns in knocking the ball around fairly harmlessly. Chelsea need to push forward while trying to avoid conceding the third (a statement of the obvious if ever there was one).

12:37 PM

We're back under way!

Let's hope this half of football is just as entertaining.

12:35 PM

Chelsea changes

Mason Mount coming on for Christian Pulisic.

12:33 PM

How do West Brom approach this?

I was concerned that West Brom had not changed their system with a back five, but now they are leading they can go back to the original strategy of containment.

12:32 PM

Will he last half time?

12:27 PM

What do Chelsea do now?

Surely Giroud will be introduced. They need a goal and he gives them the option of being more direct - it is not going to be easy to construct moves one man down.

It looked like they got caught between continuing to play the same way against a team they should beat and banking up behind the ball after the red card.

12:22 PM

West Brom's equaliser

12:21 PM

HT: Chelsea 1 West Brom 2

This has had a bit of everything: three goals, two injuries and a red card. Plus one very surprising scoreline.

12:20 PM

GOOOOAALL! West Brom now lead!

What a turnaround from West Brom, this could be a potential season-changer. Chelsea disorganised at the back again and Pereira skipped across the penalty area. Phillips did well to block off Christensen and let the ball run on to Pereira who steadied himself and rolled the ball into the bottom corner.

12:18 PM

45+3 minutes

Now West Brom strike the bar! Phillips leaves Alonso in the dust and cuts inside from right and hits the woodwork with a curling left-foot shot. This has been livelier than anticipated.

12:17 PM

GOOOOAAAALLL! West Brom draw level on the stroke of half time

Chelsea's defence caught out by a long, straight ball from Johnstone. They were pushing out trying to catch players offside but Pereira started his run from deep and lobbed the ball over the stranded Mendy. Game on now with five minutes of added time to play.

12:15 PM

45 minutes

Not seen too much from Maitland-Niles so far but he gets West Brom up the pitch with a good piece of movement without the ball. West Brom get in down the right but Phillips' low cross did not have enough pace on it and Christensen easily cut it out.

12:14 PM

44 minutes

Chelsea now have space to counter-attack and James gets another shot away that goes straight at Johnstone. Caught it well - he really does strike the ball so cleanly - but it just needed to be a yard either side of the goalkeeper.

12:12 PM

42 minutes

Reece James has been one of Chelsea's best players and tests Johnstone with a good strike across goal. Chelsea have a corner that Diagne rises to head away. Robinson is the player who replaced Ivanovic.

12:10 PM

Unhappy return

12:09 PM

38 minutes

Good cross from Pereira but Diagne was eased out in an aerial challenge is the six-yard box. West Brom need to completely change their strategy now which is not easy.

12:08 PM

Another 'mare against West Brom for Thiago Silva

12:06 PM

35 minutes

That was a scary moment for West Brom as Chelsea broke at speed and isolated Ivanovic against Werner. He tried to push it past him and skin the defender but Ivanovic just about did enough to brush him off in the box.

But in sprinting back, Ivanovic has twanged his hamstring! We did say there was a risk given the hasty change earlier. West Brom will now have wasted two subs on defenders.

12:03 PM

33 minutes

Ziyech is going to be sacrificed for Chelsea and replaced by Christensen. Never a nice moment for the attacking player who comes off but Tuchel had little choice.

12:01 PM

31 minutes

West Brom also have a free-kick in a great position but Townsend fires well over. Surely West Brom have to change systems now and really go for this game? They have an hour to play with an extra man.

12:00 PM

29 minutes - Thiago Silva RED CARD!

What a few minutes of football. Chelsea gave the ball away in their own territory and West Brom laid the ball back for Yokuslu to strike from distance. Thiago Silva came flying out the block the shot but the effort was skewed wide and he came flying through the West Brom player. It's a second yellow card. Chelsea down to 10.

11:58 AM

GOOOAAAL! Pulisic scores

It was a cracking effort from Alonso to strike the post with the free-kick but Pulisic - the player who won the free-kick in the first place - was there to turn home. Just got his studs to the ball and poked it into the turf and into the net.

11:57 AM

27 minutes

Nice from Pulisic to take the ball on the half turn about 35 yards from goal and draw a foul from Bartley. It's a long way out for a shot but it looks like one of James or Alonso will have a go.

11:55 AM

25 minutes

Ivanovic is on for what will be a stern examination against his former club. Not much time to warm up, which poses another injury risk. The old head has gone into the middle of West Brom's back three with Bartley moving over to the right.

11:53 AM

23 minutes

Kovacic shows quick feet to work a yard for a shot at the edge of the D but if deflects behind for a corner. O'Shea is down again, it looks like his race is run. Ivanovic is getting stripped and ready to replace him.

11:52 AM

21 minutes

A worry for West Brom with O'Shea down injured. A very strange incident, I think his own man Phillips caught him on the ankle accidentally. Former Chelsea stalwart Branislav Ivanovic is warming up in case he is needed.

11:50 AM

19 minutes

Space opens up for Chelsea after a good forward pass from James to Werner but Pulisic's pass is heavy and the move breaks down. The Furlong produces some more good defending at the back post to head clear under immense pressure from Alonso.

11:47 AM

16 minutes

West Brom get the chance to put their foot on the ball and have some possession in Chelsea's half. Chelsea not quite hunting the ball down with the intensity Tuchel would like. Good defending from O'Shea to repel a Chelsea cross. Werner is down on all fours momentarily after a knock, but he looks to be back on his feet.

11:44 AM

14 minutes

Really good delivery from Reece James and it just evades Werner at the near post who tried to flick the ball towards goal. The flag was up for offside anyway,

Then Diagne is booked for catching Azplicueta with a flailing arm.

11:42 AM

12 minutes

Good control from Alonso in the penalty area to get a shot off but his shot across goal is saved simply by Johnstone. Chelsea starting to warm to their task.

11:40 AM

10 minutes

Chelsea playing out from the back very deliberately, trying to draw West Brom out and create space for Werner to run into. Good defending at the back post from Furlong to head back to his goalkeeper.

11:39 AM

8 minutes

Not been the best of starts from Chelsea, struggling to regain their rhythm in possession after the international break. Azpilicueta tries to force a ball through to Werner but it is cut out.

West Brom break well, Pereira feeds Furlong on the overlap and his cross is deflected behind for a corner. Thiago Silva heads away.

11:36 AM

6 minutes

Chelsea give the ball away in their own half - Jorginho the guilty party - and Thiago Silva drags down Pereira at the edge of the area as he was about to pull the trigger. The Chelsea defender gets booked.

Free-kick, very central, 20 yards out, but Pereira hits it straight into the wall. Then Chelsea waste a counter-attack.

11:34 AM

4 minutes

Promising from West Brom. Chelsea kick long and Bartley wins it easily, and Diagne made a good dart behind the Chelsea defence. He showed good strength to hold off Azpilicueta and lay the ball off for Pereira whose side-foot shot was straight at Mendy.

11:32 AM

2 minutes

Chelsea settle straight into a spell of possession starting with Thiago Silva at the back. His introduction to the team should make Chelsea even stronger defensively.

Nice driving run in a central area from Pulisic before Ziyech's cross is headed away by Bartley. Pulisic tries an inswinger to the back post but the cross is too heavy.

11:30 AM

KICK OFF!

West Brom get us going.

11:26 AM

The players are on their way out

It's a long old walk for the away team at Stamford Bridge.

11:15 AM

Tuchel on his team selection

In the end we did not think about the CL game honestly. In the end we took a decision to have all guys who had at least two days training with us. We had six guys like Mount, Chily (Ben Chilwell) and Havertz who played on Wednesday and did not do a full training yesterday.

11:12 AM

Quite a stat

Chelsea are yet to concede a single goal in their five Premier League home games under Thomas Tuchel. In English top-flight history, the only team to keep a clean sheet in their first six home games under a specific manager are Manchester City under Ron Saunders in 1973-74.

11:03 AM

A reminder of the table

10:45 AM

Looks like a back five for West Brom

Furlong and Townsend the wing-backs. Ajayi, Bartley and O'Shea and the central defenders.

10:35 AM

The two teams the old fashioned way

Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Zouma, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Pulisic, Werner, Ziyech

West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, Bartley, Ajayi, O'Shea, Yokuslu, Phillips, Townsend, Maitland-Niles, Pereira, Diagne

10:33 AM

A bit surprised Giroud does not start

There is not going to be much space behind West Brom's defence today, so it will be interesting to see how effective Werner can be. Chelsea's attack looks a little shy of penalty box presence. They might need to be patient.

10:32 AM

West Brom team

10:31 AM

Chelsea team and subs: Werner starts up front

10:24 AM

No start for Abraham according to our man at the Bridge

10:12 AM

A game Chelsea can only lose if they beat themselves

Chelsea have an inviting opportunity to put five points between them and fifth-place West Ham United against a West Brom team who looked racing certainties for relegation.

Thomas Tuchel has organised Chelsea and given them a solid base to work from. They have not conceded a goal in their last seven games in all competitions although did drop points in their last league game before the international break with a goalless draw at Leeds. Their only injury absentee who is N'Golo Kante, who looked back to his best in a magnificent individual performance against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. Consecutive league matches against West Brom, Crystal Palace and Brighton gives Chelsea a real chance of cementing their place in the top four. Tuchel - named Premier League manager of the month on Friday - also has Thiago Silva available again in defence.

"It's the best situation you can have as a manager," Tuchel said of having a fully fit squad. "We can substitute players or replace players that are injured without a loss of quality."

West Brom are 10 points adrift of Newcastle United but have kept three clean sheets in their last five Premier League games. Taking one point from games against Newcastle and Palace looks insufficient. They did race into a 3-0 lead against Chelsea at the Hawthorns in the early weeks of the season, only to be pegged back to 3-3. If they are relegated, Allardyce says he will only remain at the club if he is backed in the transfer market and they have a realistic chance of promotion.

"It needs both sides to agree what we are going to do," he said.

"If one of us disagrees, we hold our hands up and say 'thank you very much'. If we both agree to go forward, we get on with it.

"It's a very complex situation to sit down and look at.

"How much money do they think they need to save? How many key players would they have to let go? What budget would be available?"

Team news on the way shortly.