Chelsea 2-5 West Bromwich Albion, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

If this had happened in a video game, we’d complain about how broken the match engine is.

The bad omens were all there beforehand. International break. Bogey team. Early kick-off. Tuchel getting Manager of the Month. Unbeaten record. Stellar defensive record. Crap opposition who had barely won a game all season, but did play us to a 3-3 draw earlier that was already one of the sillier games all season.

Chelsea certainly didn’t start well, and there was plenty of early sloppiness. Too many giveaways, too many inaccurate passes. One extremely cheap giveaway from Jorginho resulted in Thiago Silva picking up a yellow.

But it looked like we might avoid being a plaything of the football gods when Christian Pulisic was on hand to bundle in a rebound from an excellent Marcos Alonso free kick that had hit the post.

And then the madness truly began.

Thiago Silva was sent off for a second yellow for a nothing tackle (after yet another giveaway by Jorginho), after the referee didn’t card a much worse foul on Pulisic (which led to the goal), and completely ignored a much worse foul on Werner in the area. Not to mention all the other inconsistencies. Still, Chelsea remained largely in control.

But then Matheus Pereira scored twice in first-half stoppage time, the first assisted by the goalkeeper, catching out Chelsea in a (previously) rare defensive lapse, the second assisted by yet another Chelsea turnover in our defensive third.

Chelsea began the second half much better and almost scored when an Alonso effort was cleared off the line. Mount then came close from a free kick. And just when it looked like we might find the equalizer, West Brom scored a couple more in quick succession, taking full advantage of their numerical superiority and some more sloppy defending from the Blues.

Chelsea kept pushing and Mount did get on the scoresheet, but we also wasted multiple excellent chances. It could’ve very easily been 6-4 in our favor. Alas, it was not to be. And West Brom added one more in stoppage time just make it extra painful.

Football is dumb. Can we reset this game?

Carefree.

• What is it with West Brom this season? 6 goals in the first game, a 3-3 draw. Now 7 in this game. Thiago Silva in particular will be glad to see them go down at the end of the season.
• The unbeaten record is over. Time to start a new unbeaten streak.
• The defensive record has been burned to a crisp. Time to start a new run of clean sheets.
• Chelsea remain in fourth, 2 points clear of West Ham and 3 points clear of Spurs, but we played first this weekend, so we’ll have to wait and see how they get on.
• Next up: Porto, Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday
• KTBFFH

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