West Ham United 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea has dropped its first Premier League points of the season at the London Stadium, frustrated by a quickly improving West Ham.
And that means the Blues drop to third place, behind Manchester City on goal difference and two points adrift of Liverpool. The Premier League 2018 odds have the top two in place, but where they’ll end up remains to be seen. And Chelsea has the best chance to challenge those two favourites.
Maurizio Sarri hoped his side wouldn’t suffer for their Thursday night Europa trip to Greece and they did seem to run out of ideas as the game wore on; but all credit to West Ham, who could have won the game themselves and deservedly picked up an unexpected point.
Highlights of the game
Eden Hazard has been on fire for Chelsea, making and scoring goals for fun, including a stunning hat-trick against Premier league strugglers Cardiff. Before this game he was the league’s most prolific dribbler, taunting defences with 18 successful runs already this season. And he’s worked well with Olivier Giroud who’s provided a couple of his assists. For a big man Giroud has good feet and a great eye for the killer pass.
And the two of them were involved in the early stages as the Blues looked to take a grip on the game. Giroud was the first to test Lukasz Fabianski in the West Ham goal, but his shot lacked power. Then Hazard tried his luck from a tight angle as Chelsea camped in the West Ham half.
The Blues were totally dominant and Giroud had a great chance to open the scoring when Jorginho dinked a lovely ball over the Hammers back line, but the Frenchman totally missed his attempted scissor kick.
West Ham’s only hope was to play on the counter attack. Summer recruit Andriy Yarmolenko scored twice in the Hammers first win of the season last week and he made a surging run into the Chelsea box before feeding Michail Antonio, but the striker was denied by a brave stop from Kepa. That was the best chance at either end in the first half and it gave the Hammers the confidence to press a little higher as Chelsea’s play began to slow down.
West Ham has a decent home record against Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini was the happier of the two managers at the half time break.
Yarmolenko used his pace again, early in the second half and whistled an effort just over Kepa’s crossbar. But the Blues began to take control again and almost opened up the Hammers when Alvaro Morata, just on as a substitute for Giroud, looked about to score but Fabianski spread himself to save bravely.
Chelsea looked to be turning the screw but in another rare attack Yarmolenko had a golden opportunity to grab the lead, he looked offside when Robert Snodgrass crossed but the flag stayed down and he missed his header from point blank range. What a chance!
The Blues seemed to lose their way as the game neared its end, and only Ross Barkley managed to work Fabianski with a dipping effort from 25 yards, as the Hammers held on for the draw to send the vast majority of the 57,000 fans home very happy indeed.
Key Statistics
The absence of West Ham’s biggest scoring threat Marko Arnautovic through injury was a major blow to the Hammers. And even before that news the SBOBET odds pointed to a clear Chelsea win. But Pellegrini’s men worked tirelessly for their point making an incredible 61 defensive clearances.
Chelsea dominated possession, as expected, with 72 per cent and won the shot count by 17 to six, with six to one on target as Fabianski earned his wage. But West Ham arguably had the better chances.
Liverpool is only the fifth team to win their opening six Premier League fixtures and that’s the way it will stay for at least another year.
What’s next?
Well, what a week we have coming up and the Premier League 2018 news is bound to be dominated by the meeting of Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge next weekend. And that’s after the two title hopefuls clash in the EFL Cup at Anfield on Wednesday. Don’t be surprised to see both Sarri and Jurgen Klopp make 11 changes for the midweek tussle!
Manuel Pellegrini is equally, if not more, likely to rest his players for their cup match, when League Two team Macclesfield Town has a night out at the London Stadium. Then there’s another massive game for the Hammers next week when Manchester United are the visitors; and the home fans will believe the Red Devils are there for the taking.
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