Headlines!!: Tempers flare at the Hawthorns with Torres and Foster involved in bust-up after game

Man of the match for Chelsea? Quite possibly John Terry.

How there can be any debate over his new contract after this is beyond belief.

The ball, from Saido Berahino, was floated in with four minutes remaining. It was a fine cross from a fine player, but a good centre-half would have had it covered, or at least done enough to disconcert West Bromwich Albion substitute Victor Anichebe in the air.

Sadly for Jose Mourinho, his best man was indisposed, only the second league game he has missed this season.

And so, what should have been an ominous four-point gap at the top became two and vulnerable with Arsenal and Manchester City at home on Wednesday night. Chelsea could be third by Thursday morning.

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He's done it: Victor Anichebe reacts after scoring West Brom's equaliser in the dying moments

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Head boy: Anichebe stunned Chelsea with his last-gasp header to salvage a point for West Brom

MATCH FACTS

WBA (4-4-2): Foster 7, Reid 6, McAuley 8, Dawson 6, Ridgewell 6; Amalfitano 6, (Anichebe 73, 6) Morrison 6, Yacob 6, (Mulumbu 63, 6) Brunt 6; Berahino 7, Bifouma 6. (Vydra 78, 6)

Subs not used: Myhill, Lugano, Dorrans, Gera.

Goals: Anichebe 87

Bookings: Amalfitano, Yacob

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 6, Ivanovic 7, Cahill 7, Luiz 7, Azpilicueta 7; Ramires 6, (Salah 89) Matic 7; Willian 8, Oscar 6, (Mikel 79, 6) Hazard 7; Eto'o 6. (Torres 69, 5)

Subs not used: Schwarzer, Cole, Lampard, Schurrle.

Goals: Ivanovic 45

Bookings: Willian, Ivanovic, Luiz

Referee: A Taylor - 7

Attendance: 24,327

Man of the match: Willian

*Player ratings by Neil Moxley at the Hawthorns

There was other mitigation. Gary Cahill has just taken a knock and was hobbling, so Branislav Ivanovic was slow to get out to Berahino because he was worried about deserting his centre-half.

Yet the fact is, if David Luiz had got in a position to clear the ball, or tight enough to disturb Anichebe as he rose to head it, Chelsea would have won. And that is just the sort of resistance Terry brings to a team.

It is speculation, obviously, but one imagines with Terry in the ranks, Mourinho's little horse would have been home and hosed here.

Until the final 15 minutes this had shaped up as what might be termed a Mourinho template title-winning performance. One of those displays when Chelsea look utterly assured from the get-go, seemingly in cruise control, untroubled, unhurried, a 1-0 win waiting to happen. Yet one is a slender margin. And it needs a steady back line to defend it.

Chelsea have had just that this season because Terry has been in some of the best form of his life. He makes Cahill better, he allows Luiz to be used as a central midfield player. He directs, he commands; before the win at Manchester City, Terry could even be seen orchestrating matters in the warm-up.

Mourinho: Complete team would have killed the game. We didn't.

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Flat out: Ben Foster hits the deck after a late Chelsea corner with Fernando Torres leaning over the keeper

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Take that: Torres and Foster grapple with each other as the row at the Hawthorns threatened to boil over

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Bust-up: Torres appeared to angle an arm towards the former England stopper at the final whistle

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Tempers flare: The assistant referee and stewards approach the duo as they continue their heated discussion

MARTIN KEOWN: Magic Mel outwitted Mourinho at the Hawthorns

Without a doubt a missed opportunity for Chelsea, they should have won comfortably but credit to West Brom for getting back into it. Emotions were spilling over at the end, with substitute Fernando Torres squaring up to Ben Foster (above), and you start to wonder who is going to win this Premier League title.

It was almost like a boxing match, West Brom were on the ropes and covering up but Chelsea were out on their feet at the end.

Tactically, Pepe Mel has done a number on Jose Mourinho. And when they look back, this may cost Chelsea at the end of the season. Manchester City and Arsenal will be licking their lips ahead of Wednesday night.

Samuel Eto’o was lonely up top for Chelsea and they didn’t commit enough men to win. They were hanging on at the end.

Whatever the size or quality of the mount, in Terry, Chelsea have a top jockey. He gets them home. Luiz dropped the reins and one came up on the rails.

At 70 minutes, West Bromwich were done. They are fighting for their future in the Barclays Premier League but had offered little but a tame, timid surrender. Albion did not threaten, did not challenge and Chelsea were comfortable.

Perhaps sensing a lack of ambition, West Brom began to take the initiative. It was at this point, surely, that Terry would have intervened, taken charge, reorganised. Nobody took that responsibility.

Ivanovic screaming at a linesman over a disputed decision is not responsibility. Petr Cech being called in to calm his team-mate down is merely a distraction. And all the while, Albion grew more hopeful.

James Morrison and new signing Thievy Bifouma shot over, then Chris Brunt lashed one across the face of goal. There were headers and skirmishes and those previously possessing such certainty in Chelsea's ability to close out a game began exchanging worried glances.

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On target: Branislav Ivanovic scored for Chelsea on the stroke of half-time after tapping in from six yards

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Time to celebrate: The Serbian wheels away after scoring against West Brom at the Hawthorns

Does anyone want to win this League?

In the past nine days the top spot has changed hands between Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea. After the Blues dropped two points against West Brom it could all change at the top again on Tuesday night.

February 3
Man City 0-1 Chelsea

City moved top of the league following a 5-1 thumping of Tottenham, but defeat to Chelsea through Branislav Ivanovic’s solitary strike let Arsenal return to the summit.

February 8
12.45pm: Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal

Arsenal rescinded the lead to rivals Chelsea when they were demolished by Liverpool - who netted four goals in a devastating opening 20 minutes.

3pm: Norwich 0-0 Man City

City could’ve topped the table again following Arsenal’s defeat, but they failed so score against lowly Norwich.

February 11
West Brom 1-1 Chelsea

Chelsea’s draw against West Brom has allowed both City and Arsenal the chance to leap frog them and regain the top spot.

by Sam Cunnigham

When Cahill went down injured and got up limping it was the fissure that brought the wall down. Lack of ambition played a part, too.

Chelsea had another tilt at West Brom in the first 15 minutes of the second half but after that appeared to lose interest.

Oscar had a shot from 25 yards that curled just wide, and Ben Foster made two excellent saves, but this was Chelsea in energy-saving mode.

In the 50th minute Willian - the best player on the field, and always a threat - found Samuel Eto'o, whose low shot forced a good stop from Foster. Then, in the 58th minute, an effort from range by Willian took a slight deflection and produced the save of the night.

After which, as West Bromwich got busy at last, Mourinho brought on John Mikel Obi to shore up the win. He didn't. Terry would have. That's the difference.

It wasn't much of a match, in the first-half at least. The biggest reaction came when Ramires appeared to turn his right knee under pressure from Thievy, giving the home fans the opportunity to vent some pretty base theories about his personal ethics.

It was Ramires's fall that gave Chelsea a late penalty to equalise when the teams met earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge. Many Albion supporters regard that as the incident that changed their season, precipitating a poor run, the hasty dismissal of Steve Clarke, the drawn-out appointment of Pepe Mel and the slide towards the relegation places.

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Up for the battle: Ivanovic was in the thick of the action for Chelsea in the 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns

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On song: Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 15 games, but this will go down as two points dropped

It is fair to say if Ramires is ever low on petrol passing through the West Bromwich area, he may be advised to chance running on fumes until he gets to Wolverhampton. This time, though, the locals appear to have done the Brazilian a disservice. Replays showed it could have been a nasty injury, and he did well to run it off - even though his every touch thereafter bought fresh waves of booing.

Well, they haven't had much to cheer about, of late. And they didn't here, initially. Albion's only chance of the first half came almost by accident. A cross from Berahino found Thievy in a good scoring position but he was let down by his touch, the ball actually travelling backwards. Thievy then made the best of it, finding Brunt, who drove a low shot wide. It was meagre stuff.

There was a gulf in class here for much of the game and, while not immediately apparent from the scoreline, it was from the action.

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On the ball: Willian impressed for Chelsea, but the visitors failed to hang on to their lead

Chelsea had control from early and their goal seemed a matter of time; of injury time, in fact. It was in the additional period signalled by fourth official David Coote that Chelsea scored, a set-piece goal aided by some woeful defending from the home team.

Willian took a corner from the right and put it short, as he so often does, where it was flicked on by Luiz. A header? No, this was close to a backheel flick, a low-level assist that was not cut out, or picked up, as if flew across the goal to Ivanovic at the far post.

A lot has been made of Seamus Coleman's goalscoring for Everton this season, but few full-backs have made so many vital appearances on the scoresheet as Chelsea's right-back in recent seasons.

And there it should have remained. Mourinho said his team were too comfortable, but that is only half the story. They didn't commit in the periods when West Bromwich were there for the taking. Terry usually covers for lapses like that with clean sheets.

They'll miss him when he's gone. A new contract? Have they considered cloning?