West Bromwich Albion piled the pressure on Chelsea with a 1-0 victory on Saturday as Premier League leaders Manchester City downed Bolton to open up a five-point lead at the top of the table. An 82nd minute strike from Gareth McAuley secured all three points for West Brom at the Hawthorns to deal a fresh blow to under-fire Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, reportedly battling to hang on to his job.
The defeat left Chelsea three points adrift of the top four after Arsenal’s push for Champions League qualification was given fresh momentum following a dramatic 2-1 win over Liverpool in Saturday’s early kick-off.
“It wasn’t good enough and it’s not been good enough for quite some time,” Villas-Boas said afterwards. “We are fifth and something is wrong.