Team News
David Moyes made two changes to the side that took a point against [team 78] as Lanzini and [player 96799] came in the starting eleven. Interestingly, West Ham also deployed a back three system to go man for man against Tuchel’s well-drilled side. Bowen and Lanzini were behind their talisman, Antonio.
As for the away side, they made four changes to the side that beat Watford. Silva, [player 581220], Jorginho and Ziyech came into the eleven. Their new signing, [player 186412], was dropped once again after an average display against [team 25].
First-Half
With no wins in the last three for [team 1], they struggled to start the game on the front foot. Also, with the change in the system, they were taking some time to adjust to it.
[team 18] were much better from the start and looked comfortable in and out of possession. West Ham did attack with Bowen and [player 80655], both seeing their efforts go wide, but Chelsea were the more dominant side.
Chelsea were getting closer to the goal with waves of attacks getting West Ham pegged back. James put in a cross for [player 32612], which Fabianski saved, but three minutes later, [player 95792] scored the opening goal from a Mount corner.
Soon after the goal, the veteran Brazilian had another big moment as his clearance kept Chelsea ahead. [player 80304]’s shot had beaten Mendy, but Silva’s key intervention was massive for his side. The goal saw Chelsea gaining in momentum and kept coming towards West Ham. They were struggling to counter-attack and get [player 1922] in the game.
However, this dominant spell for Chelsea ended chaotically as the blues had themselves to blame. Chelsea captain, [player 129511] played a terrible back pass to Mendy, who was closed down imminently by Bowen. The keeper could have cleared it with his first touch but opted to shield the ball and look for an alternative. Bowen got in front, and [player 99137] brought him down to award West Ham the penalty. Up stepped [player 1452] to get the home side back on level terms.
The home fans expected to see the momentum help their side, but it was Chelsea who regained their advantage. Four minutes later, the West Ham goal, Mount’s excellent volley, saw Chelsea going into the dressing room with a goal up. The ball from [player 24288] was pinpoint, and [player 537121]’s touch was immaculate. However, it has to be said that [player 733] should have saved that.
Second-Half
Both teams made quite a slow start to the second half. The home fans were getting frustrated with the lack of attacking play from West Ham. In contrast, Chelsea were also looking weak while attacking. To kill the game, Tuchel took off an inured Havertz and replaced him with the returning [player 995].
[player 31837] then went on to one of his typical runs, but his pass to Ziyech was a bit too powerful for him to reach it. Soon after, the hammers equalized again with a thunderous finish from the impressive Bowen. Silva’s clearance was poor, and Coufal picked up the ball and played it into [player 1592], whose finish was mind-blowing.
Tuchel’s reaction to this goal was the introduction of [player 2875858] in place of Ziyech, who was not impacting the game enough. Initially, Hudson-Odoi joined the front-three but was soon deployed as a left wing-back as [player 1128] went off with a back problem. [player 32438] came in for Alonso as Chelsea now had a lot of deadly players on the pitch.
Both teams were now having a go at it, with no one really dominating much. Mount’s shot was saved by Fabianski before a big let-off for Chelsea took place, on the other hand, when Antonio’s squared ball couldn’t reach Bowen. The winger was stretching to get there but failed to make significant contact.
Chelsea kept pushing because of the pressure they are under from [team 8] and [team 9]. Jorginho’s shot was blocked away, and Silva’s header from a corner was also saved, but the biggest moment was yet to occur.
In the 87th minute, [player 1941] put in a cross that somehow found its way inside the net from the near post as Mendy couldn’t keep it out. The whole stadium was stunned, but who cares, the home fans went crazy as they were on the brink of another remarkable win.
What did the managers say?
After another emphatic win, [coach 455355] said, “We tweaked things a little bit at half-time and we got a little better at controlling the game and were higher up the pitch and were a little more aggressive.
“We had to stay in the game, make sure Chelsea, who played well today, didn’t get ahead. I don’t think we played that well but because of our character and resilience that gave us a chance of being in the game.
“It was a great cross; we have to praise him (Arthur Masuaku) for that. It was a bit of a lucky goal, but you have to get the ball in the box. You have to take what you get in football, and today we got that goal which made it 3-2.”
After dropping points again, [coach 523937] said, “Our performance today, it was enough to win the game. We gave easy goals away, this is unusual – big mistakes that lead to big chances and easy goals. We’ve done this against United, Watford, and today.
“We make too many big mistakes; we need to take care of the details. There is no need to ask big questions or start doubting the big picture, this game at West Ham is about details. Without making big mistakes, there was a big chance we could have won this game.”
While speaking to BT Sport, Tuchel said, “I don’t think we did a bad match, it was a-okay match. It’s tough to play here. We had to many individual mistakes, it was the same against [team 14] and Watford.
We talked about it before and obviously, it didn’t help. That’s the story. Everybody is involved, the decision is not the best to pass the ball back.
We struggled a bit, defensively too. We have a horrible pass back in the feet of the opponent. You cannot do that in the top level.
Every loss is a bump in the road, that will not hold us back with we demand from us. We need to play more accurately and more stable.”
When asked about Mendy’s performances, he replied, “Edou is going through a rough period. OK his decision-making was not on the highest level with the first goal but we brought him to an awkward situation, he could have saved it but he did not. We are far, far away from blaming anybody but we need to admit that we are making too many crucial mistakes at the moment.”
Fixture Details: [fixture 18138790]
Author: Devashish Akolekar
