Friday, March 14, 2025

Malouda late show gives Villas-Boas first win

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LONDON: Florent Malouda’s late goal gave Andre Villas-Boas his first taste of Premier League victory as Chelsea manager as West Bromwich Albion were beaten 2-1 on Saturday.

Albion took a surprise lead through Shane Long in the fourth minute at Stamford Bridge, but Nicolas Anelka’s equaliser early in the second half set up an exciting finish that saw substitute Malouda score seven minutes from full-time after good work from Jose Bosingwa.

It got the Villas-Boas era off and running after a false start at Stoke on the opening weekend, when Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw.

Villas-Boas made two changes following that stalemate, with goalkeeper Petr Cech, who is expected to be out for a month with a knee injury, replaced by Hilario and Anelka recalled at Malouda’s expense.

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel started his second game since learning his father had been kidnapped back home in Nigeria, but the home side made the doziest of starts and were a goal down inside four minutes. Ramires was guilty of a sloppy pass to Alex and Long nipped in to win the ball before out-pacing the two Brazilians and slotting past Hilario.

In another match on Sunday, Kenwyne Jones headed in a stoppage-time equalizer to give Stoke a 1-1 draw at Norwich and deny the newcomers their first victory since returning to the Premier League.

Ritchie de Laet had headed in Bradley Johnson’s free kick in the 37th minute, and Norwich hung on to the lead after Jon Walters missed a penalty for Stoke in the 65th.

However, Leon Barnett was sent off in the incident that led to the spot kick and Norwich couldn’t hold on as Jones headed in from close range in injury time.

It was the second straight draw for both teams to start the Premier League campaign. It was the first time Carrow Road hosted topflight football since May 2005, but the 27,000-strong crowd had to watch Stoke dictate play early. (Agencies)

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