Chelsea concedes late to draw 2-2 with West Brom in EPL

Chelsea next play against West Brom in a midweek BPL fixture at Stamford Bridge Wednesday evening.

Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has hinted that the Premier League champions could be in the market for a striker during the January transfer window as cover for Diego Costa and Loic Remy.

A fine team move saw Costa and Willian combine to set up Branislav Ivanovic, whose low cross from the right was tapped home by Azpilicueta at the far post.

Hiddink, who had urged his forward to challenge his emotions in a more positive manner, says he can’t see much wrong with the confrontations. A league trip to Chelsea will be tougher, but West Brom are actually more solid on the road, with the eight away goals they’ve conceded the second-best record in the league. “It is not always easy, but they are there”.

Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool – amongst other English clubs – have all had a number of elite-level players speculatively-linked with them but no significant additions have been recruited, but interim Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink believes he knows why.

“We have said before that as long as it is possible mathematically to get fourth place then we will go for it”, added Hiddink.

“It’s not that we are without chances to go there (fourth) and then we bring in youngsters, no”.

“We need 13 points to get to 40”.

Chelsea edged the opening stages of what was a tightly-contested first half, with both Willian and Diego Costa firing wide of the target when presented with half-chances to open the scoring.

There were holes aplenty in the visiting defence, but Chelsea’s rearguard was porous too.

West Brom exposed those frailties when Pedro gave the ball away to Fletcher, who was influential for the visitors.

And the hosts were made to pay for that miss as Pedro surrendered possession and the ball ran to Gardner, who arrowed a shot into the bottom-left corner from 25 yards.

“I think the FA Cup and the Champions League can be two massive competitions for us, and two that we want to go as far as we possibly can in”, Cahill told Chelsea TV.

Fellow centre back Kurt Zouma personified the reformed Chelsea best during one incident in the first half, when he sprinted back half the length of the pitch to make a crucial and inspired covering tackle when Scunthorpe threatened to equalise in a counter-attack. The subdued Spain winger was withdrawn for Kenedy at half-time and the Brazilian gave Chelsea much-needed pace and penetration.