A dismal Jorginho penalty miss did not prove costly after Christian Pulisic’s late winner snatched three points for Chelsea against a resilient 10-man West Ham.
Thomas Tuchel made three changes from Wednesday’s 4-2 home loss to Arsenal, with Reece James dropping out of the matchday squad altogether. Kai Havertz started up front ahead of Romelu Lukaku, with Cesar Azpilicueta in a back-three alongside Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah.
David Moyes made six changes for West Ham, with Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen among a host of senior stars rested ahead of their Europa League excursion on Thursday.
Chelsea continued their recent trend of looking shaky at the back in the early going. Both Azpilicueta and Chalobah committed errors deep inside their own half, though West Ham’s much-changed forward line failed to make them pay.
Both sides lacked intent and conviction in the first half hour. That particular mark in the match came and went without either goalkeeper being required to make a save.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek finally snapped that streak when calling Lukasz Fabianski into action in the 37th minute. The Hammers failed to clear a long throw, though his strike lacked the power or placement to beat the keeper.
The lack of atmosphere around the reduced capacity Stamford Bridge mirrored the lack of action and application on the field. Half-time came as a mercy for both sets of players and the fans alike.
Chelsea rise from their slumber
With Thomas Tuchel’s words ringing in their ears, Chelsea upped the tempo immediately after the break.
Mason Mount, Havertz and Timo Werner were all involved in a move that had West Ham’s defence scrambling. A Havertz knock-down teed up fellow countryman Werner, though Craig Dawson threw his body at the German to deny a certain goal.
West Ham offered a threat of their own through Andriy Yarmolenko, but with the crowd now up, Chelsea looked the likeliest bet of breaking the deadlock.
N’Golo Kante and Chalobah both stung…
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