Florent Malouda spared Andre Villas-Boas' blushes
on his home debut as Chelsea manager with a late winner
in Saturday's Premier League game against West Brom.
Malouda lost his place in the starting line-up but
was brought on in the first half and came to the rescue
by converting Jose Bosingwa's cross with seven minutes
remaining.
Villas-Boas had been heading for his first league defeat
for more than 16 months when Shane Long continued his
dream start to life at Albion by giving them a half-time
lead but Nicolas Anelka equalised with a deflected shot
before Malouda pounced.
But Chelsea looked anything but title challengers and
are in desperate need of the type of midfield inspiration
the likes of transfer targets Luka Modric and Juan Mata
would doubtless provide.
Today's game looked a home banker on paper, with Chelsea
having beaten the Baggies in all 10 of their Premier
League meetings and thrashing them 6-0 in last season's
corresponding fixture.
Villas-Boas, who did not lose in the league at Porto
last season, gave a sheepish wave to his new supporters
after taking his seat in the dugout but it took less
than four minutes for reality to bite.
Bosingwa's pass put Alex under needless pressure from
Long, the striker robbing the defender before bearing
down on Hilario, whose first task deputising for the
injured Petr Cech was picking the ball out of the net.
Chelsea were struggling to get in behind the visitors,
who were having no such problem, with Paul Scharner
testing Hilario from a tight angle.
And it should have been 2-0 in the 25th minute, a brilliant
Chris Brunt ball releasing Long, whose cross was too
far in front of Somen Tchoyi.
Frank Lampard was booked for an ugly lunge on Long
10 minutes before half-time, with Villas-Boas immediately
abandoning Plan A by withdrawing Salomon Kalou for Malouda.
It took until the 41st minute for Chelsea to truly
threaten, Ashley Cole unleashing a rising drive towards
the top corner, which was tipped behind by Ben Foster.
The home fans screamed for a penalty two minutes later
when Foster clattered into Anelka but referee Lee Mason
felt the goalkeeper had got a bit of the ball.
There was still time for Youssouf Mulumbu to be booked
for bringing Fernando Torres near the edge of the box
but Alex's free-kick deflected off John Obi Mikel and
through to Foster.
There was little improvement from Chelsea at the start
of the second half but a slice of luck helped them equalise
in the 53rd minute.
Lampard went down in the box laying the ball back to
Anelka, who cut inside and unleashed a shot which took
a telling deflection off the heel of Jonas Olsson and
nestled in the far corner.
The goal sparked the game to life, Scharner heading
James Morrison's cross over the bar and Malouda seeing
a half-volley blocked before Lampard played in Anelka,
whose shot hit the legs of Foster and rebounded to Malouda,
only for Steven Reid to throw his body at the ball.
Torres, who was unable to repeat his encouraging performance
of the previous week, was withdrawn for Didier Drogba
just before the hour, with Olsson booked for dissent
during the substitution.
Tchoyi's left-foot 25-yard curler forced an acrobatic
save from Hilario and an under-pressure Drogba steered
Cole's cross wide before Villas-Boas made his final
change when Branislav Ivanovic came on for Alex.
Lampard and Anelka were linking up well, the latter
hooking over under pressure before Drogba just failed
to control a great ball from Ivanovic.
West Brom threw on Peter Odemwingie for Tchoyi for
the final 15 minutes but Chelsea were applying the pressure
and Cole's low cross-cum-shot was blocked by Foster.
There were more penalty cries when the ball hit the
arm of Olsson, while Lampard lifted a half-volley over
the bar.
Anelka wasted a great breakaway chance with eight minutes
left, steering the ball into the sidenetting from 35
yards after Foster had come racing off his line.
It did not matter as the winner arrived a minute later,
Bosingwa skipping too easily between Morrison and Nicky
Shorey down the right and producing the ball of the
match, swept home by Malouda at the far post.
Graham Dorrans came on for Mulumbu for the final three
minutes and the unmarked Odemwingie could easily have
equalised a minute later, his volley too close to Hilario.
The game ended with John Terry booked for a clash with
Odemwingie, who was himself carded following a similar
tussle with Cole.
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