Chelsea 2-1 West Bromwich

Florent Malouda spared Andre Villas-Boas’ blushes on his home debut as Chelsea manager with a late winner in Saturday’s Premier League game against West Brom.

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Malouda lost his place in the starting line-up but was brought on in the first half and came to the rescue by converting Jose Bosingwa’s cross with seven minutes remaining.

Villas-Boas had been heading for his first league defeat for more than 16 months when Shane Long continued his dream start to life at Albion by giving them a half-time lead but Nicolas Anelka equalised with a deflected shot before Malouda pounced.

But Chelsea looked anything but title challengers and are in desperate need of the type of midfield inspiration the likes of transfer targets Luka Modric and Juan Mata would doubtless provide.

Today’s game looked a home banker on paper, with Chelsea having beaten the Baggies in all 10 of their Premier League meetings and thrashing them 6-0 in last season’s corresponding fixture.

Villas-Boas, who did not lose in the league at Porto last season, gave a sheepish wave to his new supporters after taking his seat in the dugout but it took less than four minutes for reality to bite.