Chelsea have gone from riding high to having their head in their hands in a matter of weeks. Thomas Tuchel’s side looked nigh on unbeatable coming off of the international break but mistakes began to creep in and proved costly against Manchester United. Against a team like West Ham, who are riding high in fourth place in the Premier League, such mistakes were always going to prove detrimental to a title push. In a game that Chelsea arguably should have won it was West Ham who capitalised on mistakes to come away with the 3-2 win over their London rivals.
West Ham Capitalise on Defensive Mistakes in 3-2 Win
Wasteful Chelsea Punished by West Ham
In typical fashion Chelsea had the majority of the ball in this game, finishing with 64% possession. They turned this into 19 shots on goal with only seven on target. For those watching the game, it’s clear that Chelsea should have done a lot more going forward. They were frequently getting players available in space or getting the ball into dangerous areas only to not make it count. This wastefulness ultimately proved costly when West Ham got their late winner through Arthur Masuaku, but many will feel that the game should have been out of sight by then.
Errors
Despite their overall wastefulness, Chelsea did have the lead through a Thiago Silva header in the 28th minute. They were comfortably in control of the game until Jorginho once again made a defensive error when his back pass got Edouard Mendy in a dangerous situation. The Chelsea goalkeeper couldn’t salvage proceedings and committed a foul, leading to a West Ham penalty that Manuel Lanzini calmly slot home to level the match.
West Ham’s second goal was a great strike from Jarrod Bowen but questions will be asked of the Chelsea defence and midfielders who allowed him to get the strike off in the first place.
West Ham’s third was an incredible goal where Masuaku looked like he was aiming to cross the ball only for it to beat Mendy at his near post and go in. Mendy will be thinking that he really should have saved it.
What This Means
Chelsea has now dropped points in two of their last three games and their grip on the top spot of the league has slipped away with Manchester City and Liverpool constantly keeping the pressure on Tuchel’s side.
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