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WBA denied victory by dodgy Chelsea penalty

Shane Long had earlier equalised for the Baggies.

A FIERCELY DISPUTED 96th-minute Eden Hazard penalty saw Chelsea snatch a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday to preserve Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten home record in league games.

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GIF credit: TheScore.com

The Chelsea manager was heading for his first home defeat in 66 matches when Steven Reid was contentiously adjudged to have fouled Ramires and Hazard held his nerve amid angry West Brom protests to roll home an equaliser.

Samuel Eto’o had put the hosts in front, but West Brom hit back through Shane Long and Stephane Sessegnon to take Chelsea to the brink of a second consecutive league defeat following last weekend’s 2-0 loss at Newcastle United.

Despite Hazard’s equaliser, the Europa League champions slipped to fourth place, four points below leaders Arsenal, who could move even further clear if they win at Manchester United on Sunday.

Mourinho had restored Hazard to his starting XI after the Belgian attacking midfielder was dropped for the mid-week win over Schalke following his late return from an authorised trip to France.

The 22-year-old seemed eager to atone and was the catalyst for his side’s opener on the stroke of half-time, with a low shot that was pushed out by West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, only for Eto’o to poke the rebound home.

Chelsea led for only 16 minutes, however, with Long out-jumping John Terry and Frank Lampard to head home an equaliser after Petr Cech had pushed Gareth McAuley’s powerful header into the air.

YouTube cedit: funfeastube

Things got worse for Chelsea in the 68th minute and Cech bore a sizeable degree of culpability, allowing a tame shot from Sessegnon to squirm beneath him.

West Brom manager Steve Clarke, Mourinho’s former assistant, looked destined to enjoy a famous victory over his former mentor, only for referee Andre Marriner to point to the spot after Ramires threw himself against Reid and went down, to the anger and disbelief of the visiting players.

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    Mute You Blew It!
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    Nov 9th 2013, 5:27 PM

    All that conniving from Mourinho about everyone conspiring against Chelsea and this kind of thing happens again. F**king ridiculous decision.

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    Mute Conor Mountaine
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    Nov 9th 2013, 6:21 PM

    Ramirez had no interest in playing the ball he barges straight into the WBA player then throws himself to the floor shocking decision. Soccer is being killed by poor officiating, no TMO to check sh1te like that, and players diving and feigning injury it’s an embarrassment really. Sort it out FIFA and UEFA

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    Mute You Blew It!
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    Nov 9th 2013, 4:45 PM

    He has some leap. One of the best headers of the ball in the English game; along with McAuley.

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    Mute jrbmc
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    Nov 9th 2013, 5:31 PM

    This coming from a team who’s manager spoke out about cheating and that it should be stamped out , interesting to see what his comments on the penalty are …

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    Mute Brian Les
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    Nov 9th 2013, 6:59 PM

    Jose said it was a peno

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    Mute Tim Clifford
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    Nov 10th 2013, 2:26 AM

    Clear peno

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    Mute Bob Frapples
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    Nov 9th 2013, 6:10 PM

    This morning on thescores article on the accum betting predictions, ye called a draw for this game and I thought ye were mental. How wrong I was.

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    Mute Robert Cummins
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    Nov 10th 2013, 1:35 AM

    Still a bad call regardless of result.

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    Mute David Carragher
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    Nov 9th 2013, 4:58 PM

    Jamie feckers. …..Ashley who ????

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    Mute Tim Clifford
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    Nov 10th 2013, 2:29 AM

    Jamie who?

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    Mute Ivor O'Sullivan
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    Nov 9th 2013, 7:34 PM

    Gutted, still a great point away from home. Hope the lads vent their frustration when we beat the Villa in a couple of weeks, come on u Baggies.

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    Mute James Quinn
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    Nov 10th 2013, 12:48 AM

    Embarassin response from Mourinho. He could have said they got lucky but no says it was a definite pen. Time to take off the blinkers! All not well there, hard to see em winning the league but no outstanding team there so its anyone’s to win!

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    Mute Joseph McGranaghan
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    Nov 10th 2013, 1:04 AM

    Dodgy!! If it was Ashley Young, as useless and as big a cheat as he can be, you’d be putting up a badly written article about how he is corrupting societal values. It was a blatant and disgusting dive and should be highlighted as such.

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    Mute Aidan
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    Nov 10th 2013, 11:54 AM

    Clearly not a penalty but also clearly wasn’t a dive. Ramires was running at full throttle, stretching to get the ball, therefore off balance. Hence when he runs into Reid he falls. He doesn’t look to the ref, nor did Ba, Hazard or Mikel, and doesn’t give us a few rolls like your mate Ashley.

    No penalty but he didn’t dive clearly. Just a coming together. He got knocked over by a stronger man. I’m guessing in your rules of the game every time 2 players touch and one falls it’s either a foul or a dive?

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    Mute Anthony Walsh
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    Nov 10th 2013, 1:19 PM

    Look at Ramires ‘s right foot just before contact. He drags it along the ground. His aim was to take contact and go to ground. To me that is a dive.

    Also, it’s not easy to spot from the above gif, but I noticed last night, from another angle, that he lowers his head and upper body just before contact, making it far easier to knock him off balance.

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    Mute Aidan
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    Nov 10th 2013, 2:26 PM

    I don’t see how dragging his foot along the ground could be interpreted as diving. He obviously saw in the corner of his eye that he was about to run into Reid, and braced himself for the contact. That would be my interpretation. Anyways look at when he hits the ground. He doesn’t roll or turn to the ref, he looked for the ball. Demba Ba as well, he didn’t take his eyes from the ball.

    I don’t think it was a dive, but I think you’ll agree to call it “blatant and disgusting” is idiotic.

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    Mute Anthony Walsh
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    Nov 10th 2013, 7:57 PM

    I agree that he was bracing himself for contact, but in a way that would knock him down. Nobody has ever dragged their foot along the ground to stabilise themselves.

    I’d agree that the definition of a dive is up in the air. However, he was looking for a penalty and if someone calls it “blatant and disgusting”, that’s their opinion. Born, no doubt, out of years of frustration watching this carry on go unpunished.

    It wouldn’t be my opinion in this case, purely because of the microseconds involved. And if you called this “dive” that, what would you call Young’s attempts to stay on his feet? But Ramires is definitely prone to diving.

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    Mute Aidan
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    Nov 10th 2013, 9:23 PM

    I don’t see how you can see that as “a way that would knock him down”. I think you’re focusing too much on the dragging of the foot, which is a tiny part of the whole incident. And has anyone ever dived but then not looked at the ref to appeal for a penalty? That’s a pretty poor plan in fairness. Players appeal for the slimmest chance of a penalty these days, and Ramires didn’t.

    If he was looking for a penalty he would have turned to the ref and waved his arms in the air, you surely know that. It wasn’t me that called it that, it was Joseph McGranaghan.

    And to say Ramires is prone to diving is absurd. The boy’s an honest, clean, hard-working professional and I have never seen him dive like Torres, Drogba or Robben, to name a few, have in a Chelsea shirt before him.

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    Mute Joseph McGranaghan
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    Nov 11th 2013, 1:45 AM

    Yes I did and yes it was, however you want to dress it up he was on his way down before he passed Reid and he didn’t have to appeal, the ref was so eager to give it he’d blown his whistle before any appeal could be made.

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    Mute Aidan
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    Nov 11th 2013, 8:11 PM

    If someone dives or believes they’ve won a penalty they will instinctively look to the ref, not to the ball. If he wasn’t wearing a Chelsea jersey you’d agree. I don’t know what video you’re watching but he’s not on his way down before contact. Maybe it’s the Chelsea jersey again. And as for your last line, that’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read. So Ramires knew when he fell that he didn’t have to look to the ref? You’re making zero sense.

    And to put this even close to the level of Ashley Young is nothing but idiocy. If you call that “blatant and disgusting” then you must think Young’s regular dives are as serious a problem as the global recession.

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    Mute Hank
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    Nov 9th 2013, 11:13 PM

    Shocking decision.

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