Result: West Bromwich Albion 3-3 Chelsea
Date: 26 September 2020
Venue: The Hawthornes
Chelsea managed to avoid an embarrassing defeat after rallying back from three goals down to secure a 3-3 draw with West Bromwich Albion.
Frank Lampard kept the bulk of the players that thumped Barnsley in midweek, with shot-stopper Willy Caballero preferred over Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal, Thiago Silva was handed his Premier League debut and given the captain's armband while Jorginho dropped to the bench.
Callum Robinson gave West Brom a dream start with the opener in just the fourth minute after carving out space on the edge of the box and drilled a low strike into the bottom corner.
Chelsea were creating clear chances, as Tammy Abraham missed a sitter at the back post in the 11th minute and three minutes later Timo Werner hit the crossbar with a first-time shot unmarked in the centre of the box.
The Blues were punished for being too casual at the back midway through the first stanza, as Silva took his eyes off the ball trying to trap a back pass, which allowed Robinson to snatch the ball away, race clear on goal and fire a low strike past Caballero to get complete his brace.
Slaven Bilic's charges took an incredible 3-0 lead just before the half-hour mark as Kyle Bartley had an easy task of tapping the ball into the bottom corner at the back post from a corner situation after Daniel Furlong played him through with a header in the centre of the box.
After a dreadful first half, Chelsea gave themselves a chance of a comeback as Mason Mount pulled a goal back ten minutes from the break with a thumping strike from outside the box that caught goalkeeper Sam Johnston flat-footed.
Second-half substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi reduced the deficit to just one goal behind for the visitors in the last 19 minutes with a side-footed shot into the bottom corner after playing a neat one-two with Kai Havertz in the box.
Romaine Sawyers came close to restoring West Brom's two-goal cushion in the last quarter of an hour after being given space on the edge of the box to have a shot at goal but his effort missed the bottom corner agonisingly wide.
Lampard's men were pressurising the hosts in the latter phase, and managed to get the equaliser through Abraham slotted into an empty after Johnston spilled Mount's strike into his path as the encounter ended all square.
