Benitez barracked as Chelsea beat Albion

Chelsea 1 West Brom 0

Demba Ba scored the winner as Chelsea regained third spot in the Premier League with a narrow but dominant victory in a one-sided game at Stamford Bridge.

Interim manager Rafael Benitez was predictably barracked throughout, following his midweek outburst in which he criticised Blues fans and the club’s board.

But the booing and numerous banners did not affect the team and they coasted to victory, despite only having Ba’s first-half goal to show for their efforts.

Benitez had questioned the club’s decision to give him the title of interim manager and he also finally lost his patience with fans who have jeered him since his shock appointment in November.

And despite the attention and headlines the relatively mild outburst against the supporters attracted, it was his extraordinary comments against the board that seemed likely to end his brief reign.

But Benitez, who stood by his own comments in Friday’s pre-match briefing, barely mentioned the ‘Riverside rant’ in his programme notes; he simply pointed out that the “team performed better with everyone behind us”.

The Rafa-out brigade remained vocal, but Benitez remained unbowed and Chelsea were in charge from the first minute.

The midfield trio of Oscar, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard were in scintillating form and the visitors never got close to keeping them quiet.

Oscar wasted two glorious chances, sidefooting tamely at keeper Ben Foster early on and then heading meekly towards goal.

Mata had several shots blocked, and volleyed narrowly wide with one fine effort, and David Luiz had a deflected free-kick scrambled away away to safety by Foster.

Chelsea’s only reward came when Ba had the easy task of tapping the ball home after Luiz unselfishly nodded back a delightful Oscar cross.

At the other end, a long-range Steven Reid free-kick that was tipped over by Petr Cech was as good as it got for West Brom.

Chelsea continued to outplay the Baggies after the interval, but the clearcut chances dried up somewhat.

Oscar had a volley comfortably saved, and also saw a clever shot across goal pushed away by Foster.

Albion’s only noteworthy chances came in the final 10 minutes when the nerves began to become evident in the Chelsea defence.

Cech made another decent stop from a Peter Odemwingie free-kick and then a more impressive reaction save to prevent Cesar Azpilicueta heading into his own net.

Whether the win is enough to save Benitez from becoming the third consecutive Blues boss to lose his job following a game against West Brom remains to be seen.

Chelsea: Cech; Azpilicueta, Cole, Luiz, Ivanovic; Lampard Ramires; Mata (Mikel, 90), Oscar, Hazard (Moses, 80); Demba Ba (Torres, 87).
Subs not used: Turnbull, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand.

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