After the very disappointing exits from the Champions League and FA Cup inside the last two weeks, Chelsea looked to bounce back against their Londoner rivals West ham United.
The teams currently share a common target in the league as both clubs hope to finish on the European spots for next season, with the Hammers side more likely to do that. The visitors are already placed fifth and look to make it into the top four, with Chelsea chasing the race from the tenth position with nine points behind their today’s opponents.
The match started off brightly with the derby fever well-heard from the stands right from the start, with both teams going end to end. However, the Chelsea defense was off to a poor start with West Ham’s key players Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini causing havoc for the Blues back four like they were playing an amateur side.
With Payet breaking through the midfield from Diafra Sakho’s pass, he lays it off for Lanzini who beats the diving Courtois with a tremendous curling shot 20 meters away from goal. Azpilicueta, Terry and Cahill were all beaten with the strike despite the Blues defenders lining up to block it all together.
West Ham’s hammering kept going after the goal as Chelsea looked weak to find a response for the conceded goal, with Willian and Loic Remy looking fairly uninterested to get a chaise going on. Many even questioned Hiddink’s decision to bench youngsters like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Bertrand Traoré at this stage of the season. Kenedy though, who finally started as a left wing instead of played at the back, looked like the only one wanting to win today.
The first half seemed to be all in all West Ham silently ending the Blues players’ season as Chelsea’s track back for the equalizer was very poor and half-trying. Luckily a chance from a dead-ball situation just outside the box opened up for the Blues just on brink of the half.
After Winston Reid’s bad touch he tackled down Oscar to give Chelsea brilliant equalizing opportunity 25 meters out on goal. Willian, who already missed a free-kick earlier in the game, let Cesc Fabregas take this one. The Spaniard scored a brilliant stoppage time goal from the direct free-kick to pleasure Hiddink ahead of the half-time team talk. Following Fabregas’s goal, he became the fourth Chelsea player to score from a direct free-kick this season with Oscar, Willian and Hazard the first three to succeed.
The second half kicked off with completely different tempo as Chelsea’s winning appetite suddenly revived. Kenedy, who suffered a bleeding nose at the end of the first half, was subbed off and replaced by Pedro who looked sharp right from the start after making his last appearance against Southampton last month.
Unfortunately, Hiddink’s tactical changes were quickly beaten by Slaven Bilic’s tactical changes, as Andy Carroll from all the people scored West Ham’s second goal to regain the lead for the visitors just minutes after coming on for Sakho.
Payet operates the goal again as he plays the former England international through on goal with a sublime pass, giving him all the space and time he needs to calmly finish the ball past the keeper. Courtois definitely could’ve done better, as the ball slips in below his arm whilst the Belgian does his best to throw himself in front of the shot.
It took a while for Chelsea to get back on track with the chase. The home side were able to control the midfield but unable to get clear chances until the 70th minute of the game when Willian’s corner meets Fabregas only five yards on goal with the header going over. The midfielder later gets on the end of another chance after a brilliant effort to bicycle kick Oscar’s saved shot back in, only to replay his earlier shot off target.
Thankfully Chelsea’s hard efforts to find their second equalizer of the game, the young substitute Loftus-Cheek is tripped down by Antonio inside the box to reward Chelsea with a penalty in the closing stages of the game. The same Spanish man as before stepped up to take the decisive kick of the game, slotting the ball beautifully past Adrian to give Chelsea a last-minute draw. Fabregas scores his second of the game and with what passion he celebrates. A true character who should really been considered as one for the candidates for the future captain’s role.
Inside the three minutes of stoppage time the game was never there to be ended. An unrest issue took part between the twenty players and bookings were flying in form the referee. Both of the teams also got on the end of a good opportunity to win the match as Courtois first saved Payet’s good free-kick, following Loftus-Cheek’s unlucky miss before the full-time whistle.
An end to end battle concludes this vital derby at Stamford Bridge, taking West Ham a point closer to the top four and leaving Chelsea reaching the higher teams form the 10th position. The Blues surely will accept the draw as most of the game was all on West Ham’s side, who can be considered unlucky not to have won today.
It really was easy to see from a spectator’s view how the home side were lacking passion, and so were the fans in all honesty too. You can rarely expect a team who have struggled to win games throughout the season to turn around a match against a club with a history-breaking chance to play in the Champions League next season, especially when the fans showed no quality either. This time we were a bit lucky to avoid a loss, and it’s hard to say are we still fighting for top four or against relegation. Hiddink’s second Chelsea spell can not be seen as a ‘success’, as a draw has become our new win under him. Also to notice, we’ve been terrible defensively and the fact is we’ve only kept one clean sheet (v Scunthorpe) under the Dutchman in all competitions, which really is a worry for a side who won the title last season.
Goals: Fabregas 45’+3, 89′ | Lanzini 17′, Carroll 61′
Bookings: Ivanovic 16′, Fabregas 90′, Willian 90′ | Ogbonna 45′, Reid 45′, Kouyate 64′, Antonio 88′
Chelsea subs:
46′ Pedro on for Kenedy
62′ Bertrand Traoré on for Remy
84′ Loftus-Cheek on for Oscar
West Ham subs:
60′ Carroll on for Sakho
75′ Emenike on for Valencia
82′ Obiang on for Lanzini
Man of the match: Cesc Fabregas
