Diego Costa and Eden Hazard helped Chelsea secure a one-sided win over ten-man West Brom.
Chelsea continued their dominance in the Premier League as they opened up a seven-point lead at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over ten-man West Bromwich Albion.
Diego Costa and Eden Hazard helped Chelsea secure a one-sided win over ten-man West Brom. Costa's chest down and volley got the ball rolling for Jose Mourinho's side in the 11th minute, followed by Hazard's goal as he was gifted a cheap second after 25 minutes, firing home after West Brom switched off at a corner.
Claudio Yacob's two-footed lunge on Costa earned him a straight red card from Lee Mason, effectively ending the contest inside half an hour. West Brom were spared further pain but it was nevertheless a chastening loss for the visitors, who were second best by a considerable margin in all areas, The BBC reported.
Chelsea almost went ahead inside five minutes when Hazard's low cross was turned goalwards by John Terry, but Ben Foster got down to divert the ball away.
West Brom's plans for Costa looked clear early on when three defenders crowded him out in the area, but he escaped their attentions to devastating effect on 11 minutes.
In what was Chelsea's first home game since Jose Mourinho criticised the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, their performance was greeted enthusiastically by the fans.
However, for all their dominance, Chelsea could not make any further inroads after the break.
West Brom boss Alan Irvine said that they had a game plan that was made more difficult by the first goal, which he thought was offside. But he added that he was disappointed about the second one, as they weren't as organised as they should have been.
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