With this being one of many more local away games for the three SussexBaggies this season, we made our way to Stamford Bridge knowing that absolutely any positive we could take out of the game, regardless of the result, would perhaps make it easier for us to stomach the inevitable defeat that was bound to come our way at the home of the double winners.
We arrived in London just before 1pm and after spending a bit of time in Putney, made our way to the already-busy Stamford Bridge over an hour before the gates were due to open.
Team
Rather surprisingly, Roberto Di Matteo chose against naming two defensive midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation, instead playing Chris Brunt in a slightly deeper role alongside Youssouf Mulumbu, with James Morrison, Graham Dorrans and Jerome Thomas being given licence to attack the Chelsea defence whenever possible.
Most Albion supporters would probably have expected Nicky Shorey to come straight into the side, but Marek Cech continued at left-back, with Gabriel Tamas and Pablo Ibanez playing at the heart of our defence.
The only other real decision that Di Matteo had to make saw Roman Bednar lead the line on his own, although he would not be short of midfielders willing to get forward and support him.
It says a lot about the game itself that perhaps the highlight of the day was the playing of The Liquidator just before kick-off. Despite there being just over 1,000 Albion fans as opposed to 40,000 Chelsea followers, we out-sung them during the two minutes or so it was played, creating a magnificent atmosphere in the corner of the ground we were given.
First-half
I'm sure the last thing Di Matteo will have said before the players went out onto the pitch was to keep it tight for the first 20 minutes or so. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so and fell behind in the sixth minute. The blame for this goal has got to be attributed to Scott Carson, who spilt a Didier Drogba free-kick and could only parry John Obi Mikel's follow-up, leaving Florent Malouda with the simplest of finishes from six yards out.
The vocal contingent of Albion supporters who made the journey to Stamford Bridge could have been forgiven for thinking that it would be all Chelsea from this point onwards. However, throughout the rest of the first half, we looked solid at the back and even caused Chelsea a few problems, mainly due to the pace of Thomas down the left wing, who had the beating of Paulo Ferreira at right-back.
For all this positivity, we were still proving ourselves unable to defend from set-pieces, with Malouda getting to the rebound first only to head the ball onto the roof of the net after Carson had blocked a powerful Frank Lampard free-kick.
The game was effectively over just before half-time, with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area yet again proving to be our undoing. This time, Brunt and Tamas parted in the wall, allowing Drogba to curl his effort beyond Carson and into the bottom corner to give Chelsea an undeserved 2-0 lead at half-time.
Second-half
Despite the hammer blow of conceding a second goal just before half-time, we came out for the second half and once again caused Chelsea a few problems. First, a Dorrans shot from the edge of the area was deflected just wide by Bednar, before Dorrans himself saw his effort from a free-kick skim the roof of the net.
Once again though, Chelsea showed us the gulf in class between themselves and the vast majority of the Premier League by adding another goal to their increasing tally just when it looked as though we may be able to find a route back into the game. Drogba was again the scorer, this time tucking a loose ball into the bottom corner, after a near-post header from a Malouda corner by John Terry was cleared off the line by Mulumbu.
Although it is difficult to be too negative when you consider that were playing one of the best club sides in European football, the way we seemed to accept defeat after the third goal went in was incredibly disappointing.
Our acceptance of the defeat and Chelsea's decision to step up a gear saw the Champions score a fourth goal just six minutes later, when neat football in the midfield saw Lampard convert the easiest of chances from just inside the penalty area.
At this stage, the previously vocal atmosphere among the Albion supporters had been well and truly flattened, with most probably fearing a similar a fate to Wigan Athletic, who lost 8-0 at Stamford Bridge on the final day of last season.
Thankfully, Di Matteo made a couple of substitutions not long after the fourth goal, with Ishmael Miller and Simon Cox replacing the ineffective Bednar and hard-working Dorrans.
Just a minute later, though, the hosts increased their lead further, with Drogba's long-range effort taking a wicked deflection off the head of Tamas and ending up in the bottom corner. The performance of Drogba was perhaps the clearest sign that we are now back in the big-time, as the big striker only had three meaningful touches all game in a distinctly average performance, but was still able to get himself on the score-sheet three times!
To our credit, we kept going and may have even got the goal our first-half performance had deserved in the last ten minutes. Brunt, who looked out of place in a more defensive role, saw his goalbound shot headed over by Alex with Petr Cech rooted to the spot. Just minutes later, Cox cut inside and saw his powerful shot go just wide.
As had been the case throughout the game, Chelsea went straight up the other end and scored, with Malouda latching onto a perfectly-weighted through-ball from Nicolas Anelka, rounding Carson and rolling the ball into the empty goal.
This completed the scoring and was the last meaningful action of a game where the gulf in class between the two sides was visible.
On reflection
I think this performance and result has to be put into perspective. Yes, we deserved to lose, but anyone who was at the game will say that it was not a 6-0 game, with the first three goals being down to individual errors and the fourth taking a cruel deflection to divert the ball beyond Carson. The lack of organisation in our defence whilst defending set-pieces is a concern though and will make us very easy to score against if we cannot sort this obvious weakness out over the coming days and weeks.
I'm sure the performance of Carson will be scrutinised over the coming days and, in this case, I believe the criticism is fully justified. A heavy downpour in West London just before kick-off will have made the ball very slippery, but the first goal was certainly Carson's fault and he may feel he could have done better when it comes to organising the defence with at least two of the other goals.
In terms of whether he should be dropped, I think it would be very harsh to leave him out of the game against Sunderland next week, although I'm sure Boaz Myhill will get a chance to stake a claim for a place in the Carling Cup at Leyton Orient.
My Man-of-the-Match would be Jerome Thomas. He had the beating of Paulo Ferreira all game, which led to the Portuguese full-back being substituted on the hour mark. The one concern is that, as it stands, we don't have anybody for Thomas to aim for in the box once he has beaten the full-back. As hard-working as he is, Bednar is not going to get on the end of many crosses and this will lead to many moves breaking down in the final third unless we can get someone more prolific in.
There are reasons to be positive despite the result yesterday, but I think we have to realise that our season doesn't really start until next week against Sunderland. If we can bring in a striker over the next few days and work on defending set-pieces, I think we have a decent chance of staying up this season, as whether or not we avoid relegation will not be determined by results at places like Stamford Bridge.
Boing Boing!