Chelsea slumped to their first defeat since October, as West Ham held on for a hard-fought 1-0 victory at the London Stadium.
A slow start to the first-half seems to be a bad habit that this Chelsea team are getting into, as for the second Premier League game running Chelsea fell behind to an early goal – this time from Marko Arnautovic. Prior to the game, the Austrian had failed to register a single goal or assist, but he somehow managed to weave his way past Chelsea’s defence with ease before curling his shot into the bottom corner.
In desperate need of a win to alleviate their relegation woes, West Ham sat back and invited pressure. This tactic worked perfectly for the Hammers as Chelsea struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities in the first-half, aside from Morata’s header and a mishit volley from Hazard.
The second-half began with Conte bringing on Moses, Pedro and Willian in order to take the game to West Ham, but despite this Chelsea failed to create any meaningful chances until the backend of the game when both Hazard and Morata wasted glorious openings with miscued finishes. West Ham’s backs to the wall defending eventually saw them through and they claimed a precious three points in their hunt for survival. Chelsea, on the other hand, have lost yet more ground on league leaders Manchester City, and are now all but resigned to contesting a top four position – if that wasn’t already the case.
Thibaut Courtois - 6
Was rushed into a few suspect clearances and he didn’t seem all that comfortable on the ball.
Cesar Azpilicueta - 5
Having been rested the other week the Spaniard looked worse off for it, with West Ham’s high press causing him to give the ball away. His crossing was abject and he like most of the players on the pitch were wasteful in possession, giving the ball away with slack passes.
Andreas Christensen - 6
Could’ve got tighter to Arnautovic for the opening goal but he was one of the few players assured enough to play out confidently from the back.
Gary Cahill - 5
Played an unbelievably wasteful ball straight into the path of Antonio, who luckily waited too long to release Arnautovic through on goal. He didn’t push on with the ball, restricting Chelsea in moving forward with pace.
Davide Zappacosta - 5
Some dreadful deliveries and a poor first touch summed up a dire performance from Zappacosta, he was the third switch to take place coming off midway through the second-half. Moses should’ve started from the off, with his physicality more of a match for West Ham’s defence.
Cesc Fabregas - 5
Showed more passion than the rest of the team, contesting every decision but his overall lay was ponderous slow and lacking quality – as he consistently overhit balls.
N'Golo Kante - 6
Far too many flicked passes into the area that ma to nothing, he also had a tendency to overrun the ball and if he wasn’t running then he was too slow in possession. His tackling and tracking was good at times, but because West Ham were on the back foot he was needed in a more forward thinking capacity.
Tiemoue Bakayoko - 5
Yet another disappointing performance from Bakayoko, with a defence as leaky as West Ham’s it was ludicrous to start with two holding midfielders, and he was like Alonso replaced early on in order to add more attacking prowess.
Marcos Alonso - 5
Really sloppy passing and no attacking endeavour from Alonso’s, he was substituted early on in the second-half as Chelsea pushed for an equaliser.
Eden Hazard - 5
Had the fewest touches of any outfield Chelsea player in the first touch in the first-half, which for the team’s most potent attacking outlet is abysmal. He had the chance to fire one in from outside the area but fired over, his finish exemplified a really poor afternoon for him.
Alvaro Morata - 5
Skewed the best chance of the game wide with acres of space to finish from, his finishing must improve. His movement off the ball wasn’t at all apparent and his first touch slowed down play whilst his cross-field switches were either behind their intended target or just drifted out of play.
Subs:
Victor Moses – 6, his pace and power only really aged him the edge on one occasion as he skipped past Aaron Cresswell, but he was brought down outside the area and the eventual free-kick was wasted. He also waited too long to deliver balls into the box
Pedro – 6, He was always open on the overlap but time and time again Chelsea failed to spot the opening and possession was turned over.
Willian – 6, he broke forward explosively at times, but the players around him didn’t create the space to open up any shooting opportunities and the ball was just recycled back to Cahill or Azpilicueta.