Gianfranco Zola reignited Chelsea's Champions League ambitions with another moment of magic at The Hawthorns today.

Zola's sublime 58th-minute finish sent Claudio Ranieri's men back up to fourth place in the Premiership and effectively ended any hope West Brom had of avoiding the drop.

Chelsea badly needed all the points after two successive league defeats and although they never hit top gear they found Gary Megson's weary Albion in a generous mood.

The fight drained away from the home side after Mario Stanic headed home Graeme Le Saux's corner in the 38th minute and there were none of the fire-and-brimstone assaults which had become a highlight of their survival battle.

While this win enabled Chelsea to reset their sights on European riches Albion face a Nationwide League itinerary.

The first half was a dreadful affair with both sides packing their midfields, stifling any creativity and leading to a series of misplaced passes.

Recalled striker Jason Roberts shot well wide for Albion early on while Neil Clement had to be on guard to boot clear Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's left-wing cross.

As if Albion did not already have enough to worry about they lost the talismanic Darren Moore after only 15 minutes after a clash with Hasselbaink led to him departing up the tunnel on a stretcher.

Derek McInnes hobbled off at the same time and with him went any real chances Albion had of kick-starting a great escape.

Hasselbaink provided a warning of what was to come in the 24th minute when he burst past Larus Sigurdsson into the box and was only denied by a superb one-handed save from Russell Hoult.

Zola whistled a long-range free-kick into Hoult's arms but just as the game seemed to be heading for a half-time stalemate Stanic rose to put Chelsea ahead.

It was a lead the visitors never looked like losing despite the half-time introduction of Albion's leading scorer Daniele Dichio which briefly gave the home fans cause for encouragement.

Within seconds of the restart Lee Hughes crossed from the left and the ball was played back across the box by Roberts only for Dichio to mis-head the ball further away from goal.

Hughes briefly looked lively on the flank and only Mario Melchiot's 48th minute block prevented the striker making a shot on target.

But when Chelsea broke they always threatened to make Albion pay and again only Hoult's brave advancing run denied Hasselbaink who had been afforded another clear run on goal.

Jody Morris shot straight at Hoult before a brilliant one-two between Hasselbaink and Zola ended with the Italian tricking his way through the Albion defence and sliding a low shot into Hoult's bottom left-hand corner.

Substitute Jesper Gronkjaer shot high and wide from the Chelsea left then a mistake by Sigurdsson allowed Zola to find Hasselbaink, whose cross-shot from the right flashed across the face of goal.

Zola was so impressive he even drew a round of applause from the home crowd after rounding Sean Gregan in the 69th minute.

His eventual cross found Hasselbaink who powered his shot inches wide of Hoult's left-hand post.

Albion rallied when it was too late and as usual Jason Koumas provided their only threat.

He fired wide of Carlo Cudicini's left-hand post in the 80th minute then brought a diving save out of the Chelsea keeper two minutes later.

From his resulting corner Sigurdsson's goal-bound effort was deflected from target by his team-mate Roberts.

And four minutes from time a Koumas free-kick was almost helped into his own net by Melchiot but the alert Cudicini got down well to seal Chelsea's first clean sheet since Boxing Day and with it, surely, West Brom's fate.

Teams:

West Brom: Hoult, Clement, Moore (James Chambers 15), Sigurdsson, Balis, Udeze (Dichio 45), McInnes (Wallwork 15), Gregan, Koumas, Roberts, Hughes.

Subs Not Used: Murphy, Dobie.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Gallas, Melchiot, Terry, Stanic (De Lucas 73), Le Saux (Desailly 82), Lampard, Morris, Zola, Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen (Gronkjaer 54).

Subs Not Used: de Goey, Cole.

Goals: Stanic 38, Zola 56.

Att: 27,024

Ref: A D'Urso (Essex).