Last season was one to celebrate for Chelsea fans as the Blues beat out Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal to clinch their first league title in five years. However, their title-defense this season has so far not gone as planned. An opening day draw with Swansea City was followed by a humiliating loss to Manchester City, meaning that Jose Mourinho's men only have just one point from their first two games.
Although there are plenty more games to go until May, some have noted a disconcerting similarity between the start to this season and the one back in 1998. Why? Well, during the 1998/1999 campaign, it took until matchday four for them to finally earn their first win of the season. And that fact is something naturally weighing on the mind of Mourinho, who did not mince his words regarding his team's performance from their first two games and subsequent reaction:
Mourinho says the players have trained better than ever this week because nobody is happy with the results so far. #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 21, 2015
Immediately following their embarrassing mauling, Chelsea opted to bring in some new acquisitions, both on the attacking and defensive fronts, spending over £41 million in total. £20 million of that got them Ghanaian defender Baba Rahman from Bundesliga outfit Augusburg, but arguably the biggest acquistion is Barcelona star Pedro, who has won a plethora of titles both for club and country and it took £21 million to prise him from Camp Nou.
Both could make their debuts this afternoon, but Oscar and Victor Moses will be unavailable due to injury. However, Thibaut Courtois makes his return following his suspension, meaning that Asmir Begovic will likely return to his spot as the team's back-up goalkeeper.
Interestingly, West Brom also suffered defeat at the hands of Manchester City as they were trounced 3-0 by the visiting title contenders. As such, the Citizens are currently the team with both the highest away and home scores. Like Chelsea, Tony Pulis's men have not started their season off on the right foot, following their opening day loss with a frustrating 0-0 stalemate with newly promoted side Watford.
Still, they have an excellent record against Chelsea, in particular when welcoming the Blues to the Hawthorns with three wins and one draw out of their four matches played at home. In fact, one would have to go back to April 2011 to see the last time Chelsea were able to depart with all three points in hand, an encouraging fact as they will be seeking not just their first win of the season, but also their first goal.
After finishing in 13th place last season, Pulis's side will certainly be hoping to break into the top ten and have also made some acquisitions during this summer's transfer window. Former Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert was brought in from Liverpool at a cost of £3 million, as well as Hull City defender James Chester for £8 million. They also opted to break their own club transfer record by adding Venezuelan striker Salomon Rondon for £12 million from Russian outfit Zenit, and he, like Pedro and Rahman could be another new man making his debut today.
Mourinho will also be reaching a big milestone this afternoon, with today's game being his 300th in charge of Chelsea. Will it end in success or failure for the Portuguese tactician?
Some interesting stats for West Brom vs. Chelsea
- West Brom coach Tony Pulis has some serious bragging rights that no other Premier League manager can match: successfully winning two Premier League games against Jose Mourinho. One of these was during his tenure at Crystal Palace prior to the Baggies' win last season.
- The last time Chelsea had such a poor start to their season was during the 1998/1999 campaign, in which they had to settle for third place.
- In fact, no team has successfully managed to lift the league crown after earning just one point from two games since Liverpool did so during the 1981/1982 season.
- And although they beat Chelsea on home turf last season, West Brom do not have a good experience playing against the Blues, having lost 13 times. No other team, save for Arsenal, who also has 13 victories enjoys such a successful record against the Baggies.
- West Brom and Chelsea have met a total of 102 times. The hosts have won 33, the visitors 44, and the other 25 finished as draws.
- The last two meetings between these two sides without the other team being able to score a goal (West Brom 3-0 Chelsea; Chelsea 2-0 West Brom).
- In addition, it was a tense affair as neither of those games finished with all 22 men on the pitch. Interestingly, it was the winning side in both instances to have a man sent off.
With both sides fighting for their first wins, expect this matchday three clash between West Brom and Chelsea to be a hard-fought affair. Make sure you don't miss out on the rematch between Jose Mourinho and Tony Pulis!
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