toptop
West
Ham produced a thrilling late comeback, twice coming from behind to stun leaders
Chelsea 3-2 and leave the door wide open to their Premier League title rivals.
League leaders Chelsea travelled to the London Stadium knowing victory would
extend their lead at the summit to four points before Manchester City and
Liverpool even had the chance to kick a ball this weekend, but found a West Ham
team who simply refused to be beaten.
Thiago Silva's towering header (28) had given Chelsea the lead Chelsea, but
Manuel Lanzini hauled the Hammers level from the penalty spot five minutes
before the break after Jorginho's poor back pass and Jarrod Bowen's tenacious
press saw goalkeeper Edouard Mendy lunge in and concede the spot-kick.
Mason Mount restored Chelsea's lead with a sumptuous near-post volley on the
stroke of half-time, but the hosts roared back once again through Bowen's
rasping drive (56), as Thomas Tuchel's side conceded more than one goal for only
the third time in his 53rd game in charge.
The hammer blow was administered in bizarre circumstances when Arthur Masuaku's
fizzed cross (87) bamboozled Mendy, found the Chelsea net, and saw West Ham
claim a first league victory in four to consolidate fourth place in the Premier
League.
For Chelsea, a second defeat of the campaign ends an eight-game Premier League
unbeaten run, leaves the door ajar to Manchester City and Liverpool and means
the Blues could end the weekend as low as third.
Player ratings
West Ham: Fabianski (6), Zouma (7), Dawson (7), Diop (6),
Johnson (5), Rice (7), Soucek (6), Coufal (7), Bowen (8), Lanzini (7), Antonio
(6).
Subs: Fornals (6), Masuaku (7), Benrahma (n/a).
Chelsea: Mendy (6), Silva (6), Rudiger (6), Christensen (6),
James (6), Jorginho (6), Loftus-Cheek (6), Alonso (6), Mount (6), Ziyech (6),
Havertz (6).
Subs: Lukaku (5), Pulisic (5), Hudson-Odoi (5).
Man of the Match: Jarrod Bowen
Chelsea's insatiable attacking fluidity penned West Ham back in the opening
exchanges, but the Hammers emerged from the early examination to create the
game's first clear-cut openings. Bowen whistled a venomous effort past the angle
of post and bar before a cross from the left fell for Tomas Soucek in the area,
but the Czech glanced a header wide of the Chelsea goal.
West Ham continued to have joy from set-piece situations, though Craig Dawson
was unable to prod the hosts in front when a corner fell for him, before Chelsea
made the breakthrough. After Kai Havertz had sent a free header into the gloves
of Lukasz Fabianski, Thiago Silva showed his team-mate how it's done with a
towering header which went in off the post after grazing the glove of the
Hammers' stopper.
Moments later, veteran centre-half Silva got back to his day job, instinctively
being in the right place at the right time to block Vladimir Coufal's shot on
the line. But West Ham were gifted a route into the match when Mendy made an
almighty mess of collecting a weak Jorginho backpass brought Bowen to ground
after the Hammers forward's looked to have come away with the ball.
West Ham have had their issues from the penalty spot this season but David Moyes
resisted sending on Mark Noble - who missed after climbing off the bench against
Manchester United - for this one, and Lanzini confidently dispatched it into the
top left corner, sending Mendy the wrong way. However, a minute before the break
Chelsea went back in front after West Ham gave the ball away cheaply in
midfield.
Mount had acres of space to gather Hakim Ziyech's cross-field pass, but still
opted to hit it first time for a spectacular fifth goal of the season. Left-back
Ben Johnson seemed to be carrying an injury as he was unable to track Mount's
run, and he was immediately substituted for Masuaku.
Kai Havertz did not come out for the second half either, having come off worse
in a collision with ex-Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma, with Romelu Lukaku - who has
nine career goals against the Hammers to his name - sent on. But it was West Ham
who struck next in the 55th minute with a fine finish from Bowen, across an
unsighted Mendy and into the far corner to equalise again.
An injury to Zouma forced a reshuffle for Moyes, who had started with a back
five to match up with Chelsea's, only to run out of defenders. They reverted to
four at the back with midfielder Pablo Fornals joining the action, and Bowen was
agonisingly close to putting West Ham ahead when he could not quite get enough
on Michail Antonio's ball across goal.
Instead it was the unlikely figure of Masuaku who collected Antonio's header,
floated it goalwards and duly inflicted Chelsea's second defeat of the season.
Happy Hammers - Match stats
West Ham have won four of their last seven home Premier League matches against
Chelsea (D1 L2), after having won just one of their previous nine on home soil
against the Blues (D1 L7).
This was Chelsea's first Premier League defeat after leading at half-time since
December 2018 against Wolves under Maurizio Sarri - they had been unbeaten in 48
league games when ahead at HT before today (W40 D8).
In their 53rd match under Thomas Tuchel in all competitions, Chelsea shipped
more than one goal for only the third time, also doing so against West Brom in
April (2-5) and Aston Villa in May (1-2).
Arthur Masuaku scored his first Premier League goal in his 96th appearance for
West Ham - it was his 29th attempt at goal across those 96 appearances.
What the managers said…
West Ham manager David Moyes: "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."
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel: "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."
Man of the Match - Jarrod Bowen
On an afternoon where his attacking team-mates struggled for large parts, Bowen
posed a constant threat which gave West Ham the platform for their thrilling
victory. Bowen's intense pressing forced the error and penalty from Mendy from
which the Hammers found their first equaliser, and his left boot provided the
second early in the second half.
What's next?
West Ham host Dinamo Zagreb in their final Europa League group-stage clash on
Thursday (8pm), before travelling to Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday,
December 12 (2pm).
Meanwhile, Chelsea entertain Zenit St Petersburg in their last Champions League
group-phase encounter on Wednesday (5.45pm) and then face Leeds United at
Stamford Bridge on Saturday, December 11 (3pm).
Teams
West Ham United Fabianski, Dawson, Zouma (Fornals 71), Diop,
Coufal, Soucek, Rice (c), Lanzini (Benrahma 85), Johnson (Masuaku 45+2), Bowen,
Antonio
Subs Not Used Areola, Kral, Vlasic, Noble, Ashby, Yarmolenko
Booked Coufal
Goals Lanzini 40 (pen), Bowen 56, Masuaku 87
Chelsea Mendy, Christensen, Silva, Rudiger, James, Jorginho
(c), Loftus-Cheek, Alonso (Pulisic 73), Ziyech (Hudson-Odoi 64), Havertz (Lukaku
46), Mount
Subs Not Used Kepa, Azpilicueta, Sarr, Barkley, Saul, Werner
Booked Jorginho, James, Christensen
Goals Silva 28, Mount 44
Attendance 59,942
Referee Andre Marriner
VAR Darren England