<<Print>>

FLORENT MALOUDA'S late comeback clincher papered over huge cracks for Andre Villas-Boas in his first home match as Chelsea boss. Nicolas Anelka's deflected shot and Malouda's neat finish rewarded the Blues' recovery after Shane Long's fourth-minute opener for lively West Brom. But for lengthy spells Chelsea looked far short of title-winning class, lacking in particular a playmaker like their prime target Luka Modric. And it needed the first example of Villas-Boas' tactical ruthlessness to lift the Blues - Malouda coming on late in the first half for Salomon Kalou. Until then former Porto chief Villas-Boas had been heading for his first league defeat in more than 16 months after Long continued his dream start to his Premier league career. The ex-Reading striker netted a temporary equaliser on his debut in last weekend's 2-1 against champions Manchester United. And this time he pounced when Jose Bosingwa's pass put Alex under needless pressure. Long nicked the ball away, shrugged off Alex's fleeting attempt to win the ball back, surged clear and slotted the ball home as stand-in keeper Hilario advanced. Chelsea, in contrast, struggled to get in behind the visitors, who continued to have no such problems, notably when Paul Scharner tested 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 Kalou. It took until the 41st minute for Chelsea to truly threaten, Ashley Cole unleashing a rising drive towards the top corner, 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. Then 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 mattered little 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. Chelsea: Hilario, Bosingwa, Alex (Ivanovic 66), Terry, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Anelka, Torres (Drogba 59), Kalou (Malouda 35). Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Benayoun, Ferreira, McEachran. Booked: Lampard, Terry. Goals: Anelka 53, Malouda 83. West Brom: Foster, Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Shorey, Scharner, Mulumbu (Dorrans 87), Brunt, Morrison, Long, Tchoyi (Odemwingie 75). Subs Not Used: Fulop, Cech, Jara Reyes, McAuley, Cox. Booked: Tamas, Mulumbu, Olsson, Odemwingie. Goals: Long 4. Att: 41,091 Ref: Lee Mason (Lancashire).