Sunday's earliest game in the EPL at the Hawthorns was one to not miss. Nemaja Matic conceded a clumsy foul. At that moment, it seemed like Chelsea would be off to another bad start.
However, Courtois came to the rescue. From there, the rest of Chelsea's players got the wake up call they needed through Pedro. The ex-Barcelona star dribbled through West Brom's defense to bury a low drive into the bottom right corner. First game in England, first goal inside 20 minutes only.
Ten minutes later Diego Costa, who instantly adapted to the English Premier League in his debut season, doubled Chelsea's advantage. Once again, Pedro left his mark.
The hosts pulled one back through Morrison, thanks to a wonderful team effort. At half time, however, they were still two goals down as Azpilicueta put his name on the scoring sheet.
Spanish connection: All three men got a goal
But what kept the traveling fans cheering to the maximum was the joy of witnessing Pedro's good performance on the pitch. What numbers said at the break:
- 2 shots
- 1 goal
- 1 assist
- 3 crosses
- 84% passing accuracy
- 9th Spanish player to score on his Premier League debut
- 3rd Spaniard -- after Juan Mata and Brazilian-born Diego Costa -- to do so for Chelsea
- 6th Spaniard to score in the EPL for the Blues. The other five are Asier del Horno, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa
Pedro...scored one, made one. Not a bad #cfc debut so far. A team player with assists & goals. Early days but already looks embedded in team
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) August 23, 2015
The Pedro show obviously provoked jokes against Manchester United and this fan sure knew how to laugh at himself:
Pedro scores..We united fans are leaving twitter pic.twitter.com/GcUYbr8O2t
— Kwadwo Amoafo (@amoapho) August 23, 2015
It hurts...
Pedro's first 30 minutes in the Premier League: Goals: 1 Assists: 1 pic.twitter.com/XSkOxFaN8p
— BBC Sporf (@BBCSporf) August 23, 2015
Halftime quotes from Ed Woodward on not nailing down Pedro to #MUFC transfer: pic.twitter.com/briOHaDgCb
— KICKTV (@KICKTV) August 23, 2015
When you ask United fans if they wanted Pedro at United http://t.co/b8n3b4vJ1x
— Football Vines (@FootballVines) August 23, 2015
John Terry was harshly sent off in the 54th minute. That was his fifth red card in his career and his first one in the league since April 2010.
West Bromwich Albion interestingly managed to control the game during the next 25 minutes with Morrison netting his second goal of the match to reduce the gap to 3-2.
You could argue that Pedro Rodriguez was rather unseen in the second period but one could blame this on the numerical disadvantage. Jose Mourinho substituted his freshly acquired striker for John Obi Mikel inside the 83rd minute. The Blues spent the majority of the last few minutes defending crosses and blocking shots in their own half and trying to counter-attack. No further goals were scored. Thanks to Pedro's first half explosion, Chelsea secured their first win of the campaign.
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