Were Chelsea Lucky To Escape Their Clash With West Brom With A Point?

Coming off the heels of an incredible win mid week in the Champions League, you would think that Chelsea would go into this past weekend's match at Stamford Bridge against West Bromwich Albion with nothing but confidence. However, it didn’t go as well as planned. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, with a penalty from a foul on Ramires late on as the equalizing goal. Eden Hazard took the penalty and scored in the 90^th minute giving Chelsea one point as well as preserving manager Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge for at least another week.

However, there was much backlash over the decision to award a penalty to the home team after the challenge on Ramires. Of course we all know that in football once a decision is made there is no going back, no matter how much players argue. In fact, arguing only makes things much worse.

Chelsea fans accepted this opportunity with open arms, but naturally the West Brom players as well as fans were livid - not getting the three points all due to a questionable call. We can look at replay after replay from all different angles and still not get the result overturned. I watched the game, yelled at the television when Ramires was brought down, and cheered when Hazard scored. But I can honestly say if it was the other way around, I would have been livid as well.

Did the foul really warrant a card and a penalty? As happy as I am with the result, looking back, even I must say that the call was questionable. I’m sure I’m not the only one either, when even Chelsea fans are making fun of a call like this, you know that deep down, even we know that it was nothing but luck that we managed a draw out of that match. Every once in a while, the refs really do make a huge impact on the outcome of matches, as horrible as that sounds. 

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