West Bromwich Albion 3-0 Chelsea match report Monday 18th May 2015

Cesc Fabregas saw red in a bizarre sending off as his Chelsea team collapsed to a humiliating defeat by a resurgent West Bromwich Albion.

In perhaps one of the most comedic dismissals of the season, Fabregas booted the ball onto the head of Albion player Chris Brunt from 20 yards away leaving referee Mike Jones with no choice but to send the Spanish World Cup winner off. The bizarre incident happened after a tussle between Gareth McCauley and Diego Costa became heated but just as things looked to have calmed down, Fabregas struck the ball into the crowd of players and Brunt was the unfortunate one to be hit on the back of the head.

After the match, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho voiced his confusion as to why the red card was awarded. “I would like to see it again as what is this for a sending off. Where is the danger of the situation? Where is the aggresivity?” he said.

The 3- 0 result was Chelsea’s heaviest defeat since March 2012 and Mourinho was honest about his teams’s performance, saying: “the ideal scenario is to be champions and don’t play again. I don’t blame the players. To blame the players is to blame myself as I’m no different from them.”

The match was played at an incredibly high tempo, considering that Chelsea were already champions and the Baggies safe from relegation.

West Brom took the lead  on nine minutes. A rare burst out of defence for Joleon Lescott saw him play the ball to the left where Chris Brunt laid it inside to Saido Berahino who hit a looping, curling effort over a helpless Thibaut Courtious from 20 yards to net his 20^th goal of the season in all competitions.

Fabregas was sent off with half an hour on the clock and the momentum shifted rapidly into the favour of West Brom. Despite seeing most of the ball, the Blues’ couldn’t break down their opponents' 10-man defence.

Barely two minutes into the second half, the home team doubled their advantage from the spot. John Terry wiping out Berahino in the penalty area and the 21 year old coolly stepped up to convert from 12 yards.

The misery of Chelsea was completed on the stroke of an hour with Chris Brunt going from provider for Berahino in the first half to scorer in the second. He played a one-two from the right hand corner flag with substitute Craig Gardner. The northern Irishman then took the ball into the right hand corner of the penalty area before smashing it inside the near post with his left foot, an effort that the Belgian Courtious could do nothing to stop.

In one of the shortest pre-match press conferences of the season, Baggies’ boss Tony Pulis said: “I'm really pleased, it was a great performance and a great result.” The Welshman was also quick to congratulate Chelsea saying: “I don’t think anything should be taken away from the team that we played. They have been by far the best team in the Premier League this year.”