I like West Brom, I like Roy Hodgson. They just seem to be a likeable side and I hope they stay up. Still, I'm a Chelsea supporter, and my fellow supporters and I are grumpy after crashing out of the Champions League.
I was hoping that Chelsea would dominate at the Hawthorns, and I pretty much got what I wanted. The Blues, wearing their lime green thirds, got off on the right foot and Malouda hit a shot just wide on two minutes. Encouraging.
West Brom weren't going to roll over though. They had their fair share of the ball early as well. They had at lest one chance that Mulumbu hit high over the bar. In the 17th minute, the Baggies charged up the field with some beautiful development, and Odemwinge beat Petr Cech for his 12th goal of the Premier League campaign. He's the first Baggie to score that many goals in a Premier League season, congrats.
So it was time to see how Chelsea would respond. Would they fold into shell shock after their UEFA experience? Would they come back and reassert themselves as a dominant team? Happily, for me anyway, they decided to wake up. Camping in the West Brom half, they got the ball in the box and the West Brom defense and keeper Scott Carson were all over the place. Carson couldn't quite get a hold of the ball, and Drogba scored to tie the match at one.
After that 22nd minute goal, Chelsea were firmly in control. West Brom did have one nice counter, but it was snuffed out by David Luiz. In the 26th minute, Carson again failed to get the ball cleanly, rebounding a shot right to Kalou, and Kalou gave Chelsea their first lead at 1-2. The West Brom defense continued to be weak, and right before the half, Lampard added a goal to make it 1-3.
The second half was kind of pedestrian, with Chelsea holding the ball most of the time and West Brom not really threatening when they did get a chance. Fernando Torres came in for Chelsea for Drogba in the 82nd, and Chelsea tried really hard to get him a goal. He actually put one in the back of the net, but was ruled offside. They showed the replay, and it certainly didn't look offside to me, but I'm biased. At any rate, the match finished 1-3 to Chelsea.
The Blues looked good, and bounced back well from midweek disappointment. Drogba was definitely man of the match, and pretty much put on a clinic. It will be interesting to see how this works out with Torres, and it'll be interesting to see if Anelka ends up being odd man out. The Blues probably don't have a real good shot at the title, but Arsenal hasn't playing real great, and we might grab second. At any rate, we have to secure a Champions League spot for next year.
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