Christian Pulisic spared Jorginho's blushes as his 90th-minute winner earned Chelsea a 1-0 victory over 10-man West Ham - to end the Blues' awful record at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea thought they were heading towards a goalless draw when Italian midfielder Jorginho tucked an awful penalty straight into Lukasz Fabianski's clutches with five minutes remaining.

But with West Ham stretched after going down to 10 men after Craig Dawson's red card for hauling down substitute Romelu Lukaku for the penalty, Marcos Alonso crosses for Pulisic who slotted home from inside the area as the clock ticked into injury time.

The result solidified Chelsea's place in the top four and ended a run of three home defeats in a row. The Hammers, who made six changes before kick-off including placing Declan Rice, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen on the bench, can now look towards Thursday's Europa League semi-final with Eintracht Frankfurt after missing the chance to leapfrog Manchester United in fifth spot.

The Blues made three changes from the side that lost to Arsenal 4-2 and they were forced into a fourth just before kick-off, with Andreas Christensen picking up an injury in the warm-up and being replaced by Trevoh Chalobah for his first Blues appearance in nearly six weeks.

It was that defensive switch that led to some nervousness for the Blues in the first half, as they got used to the new centre-back partnerships. Said Benrahma picked the pocket of Cesar Azpilicueta, unusually playing on the left of a back three, before firing a shot straight at Edouard Mendy from a tight angle.

Minutes later, the Hammers winger caught Chalobah high in possession on the other side, but Thiago Silva's last-ditch challenge denied the Algerian a second shot on goal in a much better position.

Chelsea's first-half chances were few and far between, with all of their efforts coming from distance. N'Golo Kante curled an effort with his weaker left foot wide of Fabianski's post, while Mason Mount's effort from further out wasn't much closer.

Meanwhile, West Ham's confidence at the other end of the pitch was growing. The Hammers spurned the best chance of the half when Andriy Yarmolenko's run to get onto Pablo Fornals' pass deceived all of Chelsea's back three, but the Ukrainian could only hook an effort wide of goal.

Chelsea's urgency improved after half-time and so did the Stamford Bridge noise, with the club still around 10,000 fans light in attendance due to the sanctions placed on Roman Abramovich. Timo Werner's goalbound snapshot was excellently blocked by Craig Dawson, who blocked two more efforts from the German in the space of a couple of minutes.

But West Ham provided a reminder of the threat they posed on the bench. Ben Johnson's excellent pass down the right fed Yarmolenko, who cut inside to set up Soucek on the edge of the box, but Silva was there to put in another important intervention.

The end-to-end encounter improved, with Kante going on a mazy run towards the edge of the box and his left-footed effort took a wicked deflection that nearly deceived Fabianski, who held the ball well.

Chalobah then let fly from 35 yards which Fabianski was equal to - and with Chelsea starting to warm up, West Ham brought on Rice to help out the struggling Hammers midfield.

Yet that switch didn't appear to work Chelsea continued to probe the Hammers backline. Mason Mount's goalbound shot was blocked by Dawson once again, while Werner could not hit the target from the side netting.

Moments later, Mount got down the left and fed Marcos Alonso in the box with a cutback, but the Spaniard mishit his shot and it bounced wide. The Chelsea full-back then had a header at the back post which bounced on the top of Fabianski's net. Alonso then crossed for Werner in the box, but the German's acrobatic effort was straight at the West Ham shot stopper.

With West Ham continuing to put bodies on the line, Tuchel reshuffled his entire striker pack as Hakim Ziyech, Lukaku and Pulisic came on for Werner, Kai Havertz and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

And it was the Belgian striker who made a near-immediate impact as he latched onto Silva's flick-on to go through on goal, but Dawson tugged him back for a clear spot-kick.

Referee Michael Oliver initially gave Dawson a yellow but VAR instructed him to upgrade it to a sending off. Yet the Chelsea cheers soon turned to despair.

Jorginho did his traditional hot, skip and jump but tucked the effort straight into Fabianski's clutches, in what was an awful penalty.

Yet the Italian became the most relieved man in west London as the Hammers failed to stop Alonso's cross from the left and Pulisic was there to finish first time to send Stamford Bridge into a frenzy.

It could have been more for the Blues as Mount's long-range strike was inches from Fabianski's far post, but despite some late pressure from Chelsea, they held on for a morale-boosting three points.

Player ratings

Chelsea: Mendy 6; Azpilicueta 5, Thiago Silva 8, Chalobah 5, Alonso 8; Loftus-Cheek 7, Kante 6, Jorginho 5; Mount 6, Havertz 6, Werner 5
Subs: Ziyech 6, Lukaku 7, Pulisic 7

West Ham: Fabianski 7; Coufal 6, Dawson 7, Cresswell 6; Johnson 7, Soucek 6, Noble 6, Fornals 6, Masuaku 6; Yarmolenko 5, Benrahma 5
Subs: Rice 5, Bowen 5, Lanzini n/a

MOTM: Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)

What's next?

Chelsea have a packed agenda between now and the end of term, owning to their progression in the FA Cup; they next face Manchester United, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 7:45pm; before a trip to Everton later the same week, live on Super Sunday; kick-off 2pm.

West Ham face a similar amount of remaining fixtures, thanks to their successful Europa League campaign; they host Eintracht Frankfurt before entertaining Arsenal at London Stadium, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 4:30pm.

Chelsea's remaining fixtures

April 28 - Man Utd (a), live on Sky Sports

May 1 - Everton (a), live on Sky Sports

May 7 - Wolves (h)

May 11 - Leeds (a), live on Sky Sports

May 14 - Liverpool (n), FA Cup final

May 19 - Leicester City (h)

May 22 - Watford (h)

West Ham remaining fixtures

April 28 - Eintracht Frankfurt (h), Europa League semi-final first leg

May 1 - Arsenal (h), live on Sky Sports

May 5 - Eintracht Frankfurt (a), Europa League semi-final second leg

May 8 - Norwich (a)

May 15 - Man City (h), live on Sky Sports

May 22 - Brighton (a)

Click Here For Official Team Sheet

Teams

Chelsea Mendy, Azpilicueta (c), Silva, Chalobah, Loftus-Cheek (Ziyech 76), Jorginho, Kante, Alonso, Mount, Havertz (Lukaku 76), Werner (Pulisic 76)
Subs Not Used Kepa, Kenedy, Sarr, Barkley, Saul
Booked Alonso
Goals Pulisic 90

West Ham United Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Cresswell, Johnson, Soucek, Noble (c) (Rice 62), Masuaka, Fornals, Yarmolenko (Bowen 73), Benrahma (Lanzini 78)
Subs Not Used Areola, Alese, Fredericks, Kral, Vlasic, Antonio
Booked
Sent Off Dawson 86
Goals

Attendance 32,231

Referee Michael Oliver

VAR Paul Tierney