Chelsea and West Brom charged by FA for players' conduct

The snarling Spain global squared up to Baggies keeper Boaz Myhill at full-time, having earlier been involved in an angry exchange of words with defender Jonas Olsson.

Chelsea have just a couple of ongoing injuries with which to contend: Radamel Falcao is a long-term absentee while Eden Hazard has not made enough progress to be considered for selection.

In goal, Tim Howard was under plenty of pressure after some iffy performances of late, but he turned in arguably his best display of the season to prevent City scoring in a league game at home for the first time in nearly a year.

Costa felt Claudio Yacob, already booked for a first-half foul, should have received a second yellow card for an off-the-ball trip on him early in the second half.

In practical terms, with Tottenham losing, this result moved Chelsea a point closer to the Champions League spot, but it underlined why that remains an improbable target.

“Hiddink has raised the prospect of Chelsea not being safe from relegation and his frank assessment has raised eyebrows [but] I don’t think [they will get relegated]”, wrote Carragher in the Daily Mail.

“They were challenging each other”.

He said: “If you have watched closely and carefully, they were a bit provoking and it was mutual”. Those clashes are normal. I see little things, little touches.

“A hole in the tunnel wall?”

“He’s an emotional guy and I like that very much”.

Although this seems like the most unlikeliest of occurrences for the Blues, Chelsea could secure Champions League football next season if they manage to win the elite competition this season.

Cesar Azpilicueta’s opener and a Gareth McAuley own goal gave the Blues the lead in each half on Wednesday, but Craig Gardner equalised in the 33rd minute before James McClean struck four minutes from the end to ensure the visitors a share of the points.

“The home crowd always like to win but I think it was a very entertaining game, high intensity, high speed and high tempo”.

Instead, West Brom were level with four minutes to go as Chelsea failed to clear a ball into the box. I thought Yacob was luckye. Albion had won their last two league matches and if their default setting often appears defensive they were keen to take the game to Chelsea.

“It was a tough game with them playing only long balls, second balls”, Courtois told the Evening Standard.