{"id":67660,"date":"2014-11-22T19:15:49","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T19:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=67660"},"modified":"2014-11-22T19:15:49","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T19:15:49","slug":"chelsea-stretch-epl-lead-dominant-west-brom-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/11\/chelsea-stretch-epl-lead-dominant-west-brom-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea stretch EPL lead after dominant West Brom win"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chelsea opened up a seven-point lead at the Premier League summit as goals from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard secured a one-sided win over 10-man West Brom.<\/p>\n
Costa’s chest down and volley got the ball rolling for Jose Mourinho’s side.<\/p>\n
Hazard was then gifted a cheap second after 25 minutes, firing home after West Brom switched off at a corner.<\/p>\n
Claudio Yacob’s two-footed lunge on Costa earned him a straight red card from Lee Mason, effectively ending the contest inside half an hour.<\/p>\n
West Brom were spared further pain but it was nevertheless a chastening loss for the visitors, who were second best by a considerable margin in all areas.<\/p>\n
Chelsea almost went ahead inside five minutes when Hazard’s low cross was turned goalwards by John Terry but Ben Foster got down to divert the ball away.<\/p>\n
West Brom’s plans for Costa looked clear early on when three defenders crowded him out in the area, but he escaped their attentions to devastating effect on 11 minutes.<\/p>\n
Oscar’s delivery from the left picked out the striker, who was given the benefit of a narrow offside call before controlling on his chest and firing his 11th goal of the season beyond the exposed Foster.<\/p>\n
Oscar nearly doubled the lead when his sliced drive brought a diving save from Foster, who did even better to deflect away the rebound from the onrushing Costa.<\/p>\n
Costa then guided Branislav Ivanovic’s inviting centre millimetres wide, as the contest, barely 20 minutes old, grew ever more one-sided.<\/p>\n
In what was the Blues’ first home game since Jose Mourinho\u00a0criticised the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge,\u00a0Chelsea’s performance was greeted enthusiastically by the fans.<\/p>\n
Baggies’ unhappy hunting ground<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
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\n Albion’s last league win at Chelsea was by 3-1 in September 1978, when Tony Brown became the club’s joint all-time top scorer with 208 goals.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n They had another goal to cheer on 25 minutes, the West Brom defence dozing at a corner and allowing Cesc Fabregas to deliver short and low to Hazard, who drifted away from Craig Gardner’s half-hearted challenge before firing an untidy deflected finish through Foster.<\/p>\n Five minutes later, the writing was on the wall for Alan Irvine’s rattled visitors as Yacob, making his first league start of the season, was sent off for a wild tackle on Costa.<\/p>\n West Brom made it to the break without further punishment but within moments of the restart were exposed again as Nemanja Matic volleyed over Oscar ‘s lofted ball.<\/p>\n For all their dominance, Chelsea could not make any further inroads after break, but it was all a far cry from events in this same fixture a year ago, when\u00a0Albion were seconds away from inflicting Mourinho’s first ever league defeat at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n West Brom boss Alan Irvine:\u00a0<\/strong>“We had a game plan that was made more difficult by the first goal, which I think was offside. But the second one I was disappointed about – we pride ourselves on being organised at set-pieces and we weren’t as organised as we should have been.”<\/p>\n On Yacob’s dismissal: “I can see why he sent him off. I don’t think Claudio was trying to do any damage – he was trying to win the ball – but the rules are such that if your feet leave the ground with both feet you’re not in control.”<\/p>\n Chelsea opened up a seven-point lead at the Premier League summit as goals from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard secured a one-sided win over 10-man West Brom. Costa’s chest down and volley got the ball rolling for Jose Mourinho’s side. Hazard was then gifted a cheap second after 25 minutes, firing home after West Brom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":67665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"yoast_head":"\n |