West Brom 0 Chelsea 2
A delightful effort by Gianfranco Zola rounded off a 2-0 victory for Chelsea over West Brom in the Hawthorns to leave the hosts odds-on to make an immediate return to the First Division.
The 36-year-old Italian's 12th of the season and fifth in six matches added to Croat Mario Stanic's first-half header and lifted them into fourth in the Premiership and the vital last Champions League slot.
For West Brom it was their fourth successive defeat - their worst run of the season - and leaves them eight points adrift of fourth from bottom Bolton with just eight matches remaining.
Zola was at the end of a brilliant one touch move and the Italian maestro finished it off by taking the ball past a West Brom defender before sliding it in past Russell Hoult - he went on a charge to the Chelsea fans unveiling a t-shirt proclaiming '300 wonderful times' in reference to the amount of matches he has played for the Blues.
Chelsea had dominated the first-half and took a deserved lead when Stanic headed home unmarked in the 38th minute from Graeme Le Saux's corner.
West Brom's goalscoring opportunities were few and far between but their most impressive performer Jason Koumas forced Carlo Cudicini into a terrific save with a curled effort from 25 yards out with 15 minutes remaining.
Mayhem ensued from the corner but try as hard as they might the hosts could not breach the Chelsea defence, one of their shots reflecting their lack of luck as it rebounded off Jason Roberts when goalbound.
However, it was the visitors who had the main chances to add to the score with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who had created Zola's goal, twice being denied in the second-half - once by the admirable Hoult's feet and the second time shooting wide.
Hoult made another fine save from Jesper Gronkjaer with seven minutes remaining but Chelsea escaped again when a deflection off Melchior Melchiot rebounded off Marcel Desailly's legs into Cudicini's arms with a goal looking odds-on.
The match ended with the home fans chanting Megson's name - he may well still be with them next season but it looks increasingly likely it will be trips to Burnley and Watford rather than Arsenal and Liverpool.