West Bromwich Albion handed Thumas Tuchel his first defeat as Chelsea manager after taking on the managerial role at the London club in December. West Brom scored 5 goals against a 10-man Chelsea side as Thiago Silva received a first half red card for the Blues.
The result will leave Chelsea at 4th place now but West Ham and Tottenham can take over the final Champions league berth if they win their respective matches this weekend. Braces from Matheus Pereira, Callum Robinson and a Diagne goal saw Chelsea concede more than 4 goals at home for the first time since 2011.
Thiago Silva’s first half red card turned the tide of the whole match for Chelsea
Tuchel started defence of back 3 and handed out starts to Hakim Ziyech, Pulisic and Timo Werner upfront in attack. Chelsea dominated in attack for large parts of the first half hour and scored through Pulisic. However, the minutes after going up 1-0 Silva made a lunging tackle right on the Chelsea penalty box and received a second yellow card to reduce his side to 10 men.
Matheus Pereira scored twice in the final minutes of the first half and made it 2-1 for West Bromwich going into the second half. Tuchel brought on Mason Mount in the hopes of emulating a comeback just like their first match of the season when Chelsea came back from 1-3 down to earn a 3-3 draw in the end.
However, West Brom started the second half on the front foot and looked to push their advantage even further. Callum Robinson put end to a perfect training ground move in the 63rd minute. Diagne made it 4-1 in the 68th minute as West Brom took advantage of Chelsea’s 10 men in a free flowing counter attack.
Mason Mount pulled one back for the hosts as Timo Werner unselfishly put one on his plate and the midfielder tapped in at the far post. Despite being a man down Chelsea continued to pressurize West Brom’s defence, dominating possession and created a few chances which did not end up in the back of the net.
Callum Robinson scored his second goal of the match in the final few minutes of added time as Chelsea were caught out on the break once again. His dinked finish past an outstretched Mendy completed a Premier league upset this weekend.
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