West Ham 3 Chelsea 1: 10 Men Hammers shock Chelsea in 3-1 victory
David Moyes’s West Ham side secured all three points in their first home game of the season beating Chelsea 3-1, despite going down to 10 men with more than 20 minutes remaining.
West Ham took the lead early in the first half with debutant James Ward-Prowse’s corner meeting the head of Nayef Aguerd, who was left free at the back post to head into the back of the net.
With the Hammers scoring in the seventh minute, it was only going to invite pressure onto the home side as Chelsea continued to push forward and dictate the game.
As the first half progressed, Pochettino’s side maintained dominance in possession, finishing the game with 76% of the ball.
Despite the control of the ball, the West Ham defence was holding a solid line the Blues found a great difficulty finding a shot on target.
However, this all changed with a moment of brilliance from Carey Chukwuemeka, who cut inside from the left and fired the ball into the far corner.
From then on the momentum of the game shifted with West Ham continuing to invite pressure onto themselves it seemed that sooner or later, the Blues were going to take the lead.
This wasn’t helped by Lucas Paqueta, who seemingly could have made things much worse for the Hammers, who decided to give up possession outside of the box to argue with the assistant referee, fortunately, West Ham Sterling’s cross resulted in nothing but a corner.
With the growing pressure, you could hear the displeasure from the home support as David Moyes’ side failed to get the ball away from their penalty area.
And it only grew louder when West Ham conceded a penalty in the 42nd minute, as Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek brought down Sterling in the box just before halftime
Young Enzo Fernandez stepped up to take the penalty, but it was the heroics of Alphonso Areola who dove the right way to a massive eruption from the London Stadium.
The second half began similarly to how the first ended, with the Hammers sitting off from Pochettino’s side, with the only change being the injured Carey Chukwuemeka for Mudryk
However, in the 53rd minute, James Ward-Prowse was able to send a long ball into the path of Michail Antonio, who showed great strength and pace to beat off the chasing Diasi, he was able to find the bottom left corner with a thunderous strike to take the lead.
David Moyes’ side again went in front, setting up a nervous second half following the same route as the first, living very dangerously.
The game also saw the introduction of Moises Caicedo for Ben Chilwell, with the £115 million debutant looking to also have an impact on the game,
But things only went from bad to worse for the Hammers, with goalscorer Nayef Aguerd, making an unnecessary tackle and receiving a yellow card them down to ten men with 20 minutes to go.
West Ham had make changes, with Benrahma exiting for Ogbonna and Antonio for Pablo Fornals, it looked as though Moyes was attempting to shut up shop in a dramatic end to the 90 going into a 4-4-1 formation.
As the pressure piled on, Chelsea was still unable to find the back of the net, with every cross meeting a taller West Ham defender, and every passing movement shut down by the deep-lying midfield.
With Pochettino’s side pressing so high up the field, it only seemed to benefit the Hammers, who utilised the counter-attack to great effect, as Fornals had a chance denied by Sanchez.
And once again with West Ham holding the ball in the corner, they broke through with Emerson back-heeling the ball into Paqueta’s path before being taken down by Caicedo for a penalty, a debut he will want to forget.
The confident Brazilian midfielder grabbed the ball for the penalty, and with a ‘no-look’ attempt at goal beat Sanchez to make it 3-1.
The London Stadium erupted, with their West London rivals quickly exiting the stands, with the Hammers claiming all the bragging rights in this affair.
David Moyes’s side have now grabbed four points from a possible six, as they turn their attention to Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend.
Pochettino has to see if he can get his first three points as Chelsea look to the home fixture against newly promoted Luton Town.
