Hello, and welcome to tonight’s liveblog.
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Kick of is at 8.00pm.
Here are tonight’s teams…
Team to face West Brom: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Matic, Fabregas, Alonso; Pedro, Diego Costa, Hazard. #WBACHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 12, 2017
Tonight’s subs: Begovic, Zouma, Terry, Ake, Kante, Willian, Batshuayi. #WBACHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 12, 2017
📷 Albion team v @ChelseaFC: Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Nyom; Brunt, Livermore, Fletcher (c), Field, McClean; Rondon.#WBACHE #WBA pic.twitter.com/naB6mXoD1E
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) May 12, 2017
Subs: Myhill, M Wilson, Yacob, Morrison, Chadli, Leko, Robson-Kanu.#WBACHE #WBA
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) May 12, 2017
We’re underway…
Rondon almost scores immediately.
A hopeful ball is headed on by the striker and Courtois is forced to tip it over.
Azpilicueta almost plays through Alonso, but the ball narrowly eludes the wing-back.
Chelsea are doing plenty of patient probing in front of the West Brom defence early on.
West Brom get a rare chance to break through James McClean.
However, the Irish international’s final pass is behind Rondon, killing the counter-attack’s momentum in the process.
Chelsea have had the majority of the possession and territory as expected.
However, the hosts have looked threatening on the counter-attack on the rare chances they have had to break.
McClean gets booked for taking down Moses just outside the box on West Brom’s left.
The Ireland international is incensed, but looking at the replay, he can have few complaints as he missed the ball completely and got the man.
Hazard goes down under a challenge from Evans but the referee waves play on.
It would have been soft, but the Northern Irish defender did have his hands around the Chelsea attacker.
James McClean boots Victor Moses up in the air and then complains bitterly when he is penalised for it. Strange
— Oliver Holt (@OllieHolt22) May 12, 2017
McClean needs to be careful or he’ll get sent off. He dives in on Moses, misses the man and takes the player out.
For someone renowned as a hard player, his timing of the tackle isn’t the best.
Fabregas flashes a shot just wide.
Chelsea have been the much better team in these early stages. If the pattern of the game continues, there can only be one winner.
Sam Field becomes the second player to get booked for stopping Fabregas from breaking.
West Brom need to retain their discipline here.
Pedro finds space on the edge of the area and curls a shot just wide.
Down the other end, Rondon goes down easily after the faintest of touches from Matic.
Rondon is awarded a throw-in after a 50:50 challenge.
The West Brom fans, who have not been impressed by the referee’s performance, start cheering in mock ecstasy after he belatedly awards a call in their favour.
I can only imagine the fun it must be to train at WBA every day. Drill after drill after drill. Effective, but a little bit dull..
— Mark Ogden (@MarkOgden_) May 12, 2017
Diego Costa tries to turn past Evans and get the shot away. However, he doesn’t find the target, as the Northern Irish defender just does enough to put his opponent off.
Down the other end, McClean breaks free down the left, but Luiz cuts out his cross.
HALF-TIME: WEST BROM 0-0 CHELSEA
The second half has begun…
Positive start to this second half by Chelsea.
A Moses shot from just inside the box forces Foster to make a good save.
Moments later, Costa’s acrobatic effort is straight at the West Brom goalkeeper.
Fabregas fires a shot just wide.
Meanwhile, Claudio Yacob has replaced Sam Field for West Brom.
Hazard finds space down the left and his cross is almost deflected in by Dawson, but it’s blocked on the line by Yacob.
West Brom are under the cosh at the moment.
Dawson is penalised for bringing down Hazard, who has gone down very easily on more than one occasion tonight.
The home crowd are making their annoyance with the Belgian player heard.
McClean is replaced by Chadli.
Tony Pulis may have been worried about the Irishman getting himself sent off.
Diego Costa goes down in the box but the ref waves play on.
It was a clean tackle by Yacob, as replays confirm.
Almost as soon as one Irishman departs, another one comes on.
Marc Wilson has come on for Gareth McAuley.
Hazard blasts the ball off target from distance.
Chelsea are looking a bit frustrated and short of ideas at the moment.
West Brom have been well organised defensively and deserve to be level at the moment.
West Brom breaks as Rondon beats Luiz.
He sprints through on goal, but Cahill gets back in time to make the block.
So close! Livermore plays it across the area to Chadli, whose shot goes just wide.
This is a very good spell for West Brom.
Interesting double change from Chelsea.
Hazard, who’s been poor, is replaced by Willian, while Batshuayi has come on for Pedro.
Looks like the visitors are going to go with two up top.
West Brom continue to enjoy plenty of possession in Chelsea’s final third in recent minutes.
This is comfortably the home side’s best spell of the match.
CHELSEA 1-0 WEST BROM (BATSHUAYI 82)
Brunt hesitates, allowing Azpilicueta to get a cross in down the right.
Batshuayi, so often on the fringes this season, is in the right place for a simple tap in.
The game has been temporarily halted due to pitch invaders.
Two minutes plus injury time remain.
There will be five added minutes…
Nice to think Batshuayi won't only be remembered for being good at Twitter.
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) May 12, 2017
FULL-TIME: WEST BROM 0-1 CHELSEA
Right, that’s all from me. Thanks for reading and commenting.
You can read our report on the match here.
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