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MOTD- Chelsea 2-2 West Bromwich Albion

By on November 9, 2013

20131109-221039.jpgSir Alex Ferguson had the affect of influencing the amount of stoppage time added onto the end of the 90 minutes by the referee, but Jose Mourinho’s specialty is to make the referee award late decision in his side’s favor.  Andre Marriner was the victim at Stamford Bridge this time as West Bromwich Albion’s trip to Chelsea was seconds away from a historic win for Steve Clarke’s side that would end Mourinho’s run of managing 65 matches in a row unbeaten at home.  Yet the magic happened when Ramires took a tumble in the box while the clock read 93 minutes and 37 seconds.  Marriner momentarily paused and looked up at the crown at Stamford Bridge, and you could just see the thought “If I don’t award this, what would Mourinho do?” flashing through is mind, before pointing to the spot just nineteen seconds before the four minutes of added time was up.

Eden Hazard duly converted the spot-kick and his fourth goal of the season, keeping Mourinho’s record safe and earning his side a 2-2 draw to take them into fourth place in the Premier League.

Things weren’t always so close for Chelsea, and although the home side dominant in the first half, Samuel Eto’o failed to find the back of the net in any of the opening chances he had. Yet Oscar nearly broke the deadlock after a half an hour when Oscar sent a long-range free-kick curing towards the top corner, only for West Brom keeper Boaz Myhill to tip it over the crossbar. Eto’o did find the net just before the end of the half though, as he latched onto Myhill’s save from Hazard’s fierce low shot and coolly slotted home.

However, West Brom blossomed in the second half, with Shane Long giving the visitors an equalizer on the hour mark. The forward had already headed Morgan Amalfitano’s cross onto the post a few minutes earlier, and once again proved clinical with his head when Gareth McAuley’s bullet header from a corner from the right was parried away by Petr Cech. Yet Long was there to dispatch the rebound at the near post, rising above the Chelsea defenders to head into the top corner from point-blank range.

Cech couldn’t have done any better despite conceding, but the Czech goalkeeper was partly to blame as Stephane Sessegnon’s completed the comeback for West Brom in the sixty-eighth minute. The winger skipped by Branislav Ivanovic down the left before cutting inside and exchanging passes with Liam Ridgewell. Sessegnon then scuffed a low shot on goal from the edge of the box which Cech should have easily claimed, only for the ball to wriggle right under the goalkeeper into the back of the net.

Chelsea certainly didn’t sit with the possibility of losing, and after Willian headed narrowly over in miles of space in the six yard box, Mourinho’s side became desperate and began to send long balls into the box hoping for a result. And a result is what they would get when Steven Reid was judged to have bundled Ramires, who had been bursting into the box down the left, to the floor seconds from time by Marriner. Hazard, who had been dropped for Chelsea’s midweek Champions League clash verses Schalke 04 but found himself back in the side for Mourinho’s 100th home match in charge of Chelsea, cooly passed the penalty into the bottom right corner of the net and had Mourinho’s skin saved yet again.
Man of the Match: Eden Hazard

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.