Chelsea dropped their first points of the league season under Maurizio Sarri as they experienced a 0-0 stalemate against West Ham at the London Stadium. Both teams had their chances to win the game, but neither converted them.
The Blues were far more accomplished and threatening than the home side, but their final ball and the lack of a killer instinct proved to be their nemesis. The Blues are now third on the table, behind Manchester City and Liverpool. West Ham on the other hand, continue their resurgence.
Here are the major talking points from the London derby.
West Ham were more compact than what we have seen so far this season from them
Right from the first whistle, West Ham developed a 4-5-1 structure, with Antonio the only man upfront and the positions of Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson slightly higher. Pedro Obiang and the distinguished leader of the club, Mark Noble, ran their socks off in order to start attacks and win back possession.
Zabaleta, who has come under scrutiny for his slowness off the ball and concentration, did well to shut out Hazard and Alonso. The former Manchester City right back also darted forward with purpose, illustrating his dedication and intent to breakthrough.
The Blues were made to recycle possession, hit more accurate passes down the middle and beat the back line with innovation – something they didn’t do for the first half of the game. As a result, they couldn’t get on the end of their intended passes. Numbers suggest the same too, as the hosts mustered 15 tackles, 19 clearances and 8 interceptions.
Although the Hammers’ fans were crying for more from their team’s attack, credit to Pellegrini for instilling a better drilled side against Chelsea. Should they defend with this alertness and solidity in more games, West Ham can certainly rise higher up the table.
Chelsea dominate possession in the first period, but lack creativity
In the first 45, the visitors enjoyed 71% possession in he first-half, with a total of eight shots and 407 passes. Despite the dominating and constant knocking on the door, they couldn’t knock West Ham off their perch.
The Hammers were well-constructed for most part. Hazard was encircled by four-five Claret bodies almost all the time, whereas the likes of Willian and Azpilicueta had to buy their crosses. They were made to work the ball faster and as a result, it went back to the defenders, who began attacks all over again.
Kovacic and Hazard had efforts saved by Fabianski but apart from that, there wasn’t much to boast for Sarri, whose players were well-watched and covered for the entirety of the first-half.
West Ham struggle to finish off their chances
Against the run of play, West Ham did enjoy a handful of opportunities in front of goal. From a dominant start by Chelsea, the final 10 minutes or so of the first-half turned into a more even-keeled, middling affair. In that period, Michail Antonio saw two chances going his way. While one was difficult, the other could easily have been dispatched.
In the process of a counter-attack, an attempted take-on from Yarmolenko fell to him and he shot it right at Arrizabalaga. Had he taken that across the face of goal, the Hammers would have been a goal up.
In the 78th minute, what followed was an absolute blunder. Substitute Robert Snodgrass floated a peach of a cross into the box and the Ukrainian escaped his marker. However, Yarmolenko fluffed his lines and directed his header wide. Awful, awful miss!