Incredible 25yo makes up for stinker from mainstay: 3 things we learned from West Brom v Chelsea
West Brom played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with Chelsea and Saturday evening, in which the Baggies produced their best performance of the season.
The result, despite being one West Brom fans would have taken at the start, was a disappointment after going 3-0 up after 30 minutes.
A second half collapse saw the teams share the points at the Hawthorns.
Callum Robinson, 25, scored his first goals of the season, before Kyle Bartley prodded home a third for West Brom. Then second half goals from Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham spared Chelsea’s blushes.
Put aside the disappointment and there are plenty of positives to take from Saturday’s game, as West Brom picked up their first point back in the Premier League.
Here are three things we learned from West Brom v Chelsea…
1.) Callum Robinson can cut it as a striker
In the week Slaven Bilic spoke about how he was now considering Callum Robinson as a striker, rather than a winger, after playing him up top for the Baggies’ opening Premier League games. Against Chelsea, Robinson showed exactly why this is the case. He did everything a Premier League quality striker should do. His finish for his first was simply incredible, a low driven shot through the legs of Reece James and past Willy Caballero into the bottom corner, it was borderline un-saveable.
His second was arguably even better, showing a real strikers instinct to put pressure on the Chelsea back line, hoping for a slip up from one of the opposing defenders. Of course, Thiago Silva made that crucial mistake and Robinson showed great composure to take the ball forward and beat Caballero again for his, and West Brom’s second. We’re not suggesting that Callum Robinson is the answer to Slaven Bilic’s striker problem, but what he can provide is a decent option going forward, that even top four Premier League defences struggle with.
2.)There are still some defensive frailties to be worked on
There is no shame in conceding goals to good sides, and a lot of teams are going to watch Chelsea tear them apart this season. But we’re sure Slaven Bilic will be annoyed at the manner of the goals his team conceded yesterday. For the most part West Brom defended very well, and kept Chelsea at bay for 55 minutes. But Sam Johnstone had a bad game and will be will be concerned that he was beaten from distance for the first Chelsea goal. For the second, while the goal came at the end of a lovely passing move by Chelsea, the Baggies defence just stood and watched as Hudson-Odoi collected the ball inside the box and finished.
You can debate all night whether Chelsea’s third should have stood, but the fact is Tammy Abraham was left unmarked inside the West Brom box to poke home an equaliser. In the Premier League you will be punished for not picking up a striker as deadly as Abraham. Johnstone will also be disappointed that he couldn’t hold on to Mason Mount’s initial effort.
3.) The Baggies have more than enough to stay up this season.
Some had written off West Brom as relegation certainties before a ball was even kicked this season, and their opening two games did nothing to dispel those thoughts. But Saturday night showed a clinical, confident and bold West Brom, that went toe to toe with one of the league’s big boys and very nearly took all three points. If the Baggies can repeat their performance against Chelsea against worse sides this season they should pick up more than enough points to avoid the drop.
Granted these are all ‘ifs’, but if Robinson can be as quick and as clinical as he was on Saturday, if Diangana and Pereira can keep causing problems for full backs, then West Brom should score plenty of goals. The defence could be a worry, but the more this defence plays together the stronger it will get, and the addition of the experienced Branislav Ivanovic will only improve the solidity of that defensive unit. Saturday showed plenty of reasons why Baggies fans can be excited about this team, especially with games against teams like Burnley and Fulham in the not too distant future.
In other West Brom news, ‘Man mountain’, ‘Ballon d’Or’: Many West Brom fans lavish praise on ‘fantastic’ player v Chelsea.
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