MICHY
Michy Batshuayi has not scored many goals in the league this
season, but 50 per cent of the ones he has scored have won Chelsea the title.
If you’re going to go, go big — and Batshuayi went big in
the 82nd minute here. Just at the point when it looked as if we would all have
to reconvene at Stamford Bridge on Monday, he arrived in West Brom’s six-yard
box to ensure the title race is concluded with more than a week to spare.
That is no small achievement in the season that brought Pep
Guardiola to the Premier League, Jose Mourinho to Manchester United, and saw
Tottenham older, more experienced and ready to improve on last season’s attempt
to chase down Leicester.
MATCH FACTS, RATINGS, TABLE AND MATCH ZONE
WEST BROM (4-1-4-1): Foster 6; Dawson 6.5, McAuley 7
(Wilson 64, 6), Evans 6.5, Nyom 6, Fletcher 6.5, Brunt 7, Livermore 6, Field 6
(Yacob 51, 6), McClean 6 (Chadli 59, 5), Rondon 6.5
Subs not used: Robson-Kanu, Morrison, Wilson, Myhill,
Leko
Booked: McClean, Wilson, Field
Manager: Tony Pulis 6
CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Courtois 6.5; Azpilicueta 6.5, David
Luiz 7, Cahill 6.5, Moses 6 (Zouma 86, 5), Fabregas 6.5, Matic 6.5, Alonso 6,
Pedro 5 (Batshuayi, 76, 7.5), Hazard 5.5 (Willian 75, 5) Diego Costa 5
Subs not used: Begovic, Ake, Kante, Terry
Goal: Batshuayi 81
Manager: Antonio Conte 7.5
Referee: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 25,367
That Mauricio Pochettino’s team came up short again is due,
in no little part, to the traits we saw in Chelsea on Friday night. Resilience,
determination, organisation and some of the finest passing and most
fleet-footed forward play in the league.
Chelsea are worthy champions, Antonio Conte a worthy winner
of the Premier League in his first season as coach. Impressively, he has solved
Chelsea’s perennial problems: how to move on from John Terry and Branislav
Ivanovic; how to rebuild team spirit after a calamitous campaign a year
ago.
He has made a solid citizen of David Luiz, dealt skilfully
with high-maintenance stars such as Diego Costa and Eden Hazard, turned Victor
Moses into a right wing back and unleashed Cesc Fabregas just at the right
time, his radar helping close out the season.
Indeed, right until the last, Conte got it right. At £33million
from Marseille, Batshuayi has been one of the transfer flops of the season.
Yet, with nothing working, and West Brom growing stronger — Nacer Chadli almost
gave them the lead late in the game — Conte was not scared to introduce him as
a late substitute, or withdraw Hazard, who had run himself into the ground,
even in defensive service.
And the title was his reward. If you’re going to score your
first in the league since August 20 against Watford, it might as well win the
league. With the game heading for a draw, Hazard off and West Brom at last
exerting pressure, there was a degree of tension as we entered the final
straight. Well, as much tension as there can be when a team needs one win and
still has Watford and Sunderland to play at home.
Enter Batshuayi. He took advantage of the defensive
reorganisation caused by the withdrawal of Gareth McAuley, after West Brom had
failed to deal with a sliced shot that went into no-man’s land. Chelsea
recycled it, Cesar Azpilicueta crossed and Batshuayi slid in to poke the ball
past Ben Foster.
Albion have little to play for, after all. They are a very
credible eighth but, in reality, top of the bottom. They defended as if their
existence depen-ded on it, almost scored after 23 seconds through Salomon
Rondon and looked just the sort of team that would delight in frustrating
Manchester City.
The reason Chelsea have won a fifth Premier League title,
was on show even in moments of greatest frustration. It was all there. The
exquisite passing and vision of Fabregas; the delightful touch and poise of
Hazard; fine saves when needed by Thibaut Courtois, including one in a part of
the game when many contemporaries may have been taken by surprise; a great
saving tackle by Luiz; the width; the counter-attacking; the speed of recovery.
All that was missing was player of the season, N’Golo Kante,
still recovering from injury and on the bench, and striker Diego Costa, who was
present in name only for much of the game. He was the one disappointment.
Yet he has been magnificent on other occasions, and any
player can have an off night. His team-mates made up for it. Intense, eager,
willing to get the job done at the first opportunity.
Chelsea’s biggest problem was accuracy. They had plenty of
shots, but few that challenged Ben Foster.
Most of the chances were crafted by
the boot of Fabregas. Had the forwards found their range it could have been
done much earlier but West Brom, whose draw at Tottenham proved so decisive
last season, are nothing if not awkward.
Physical, too. James McClean was lucky his night did not end
prematurely having received a yellow card for taking out Moses after 20
minutes. He did it again soon after and was fortunate Michael Oliver decided to
be lenient. The home fans moaned anyway, but they didn’t have a case. The best
team won, the match and — more importantly — the league.
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