Chelsea’s impressive run came to an end last night in a disappointing 2-1 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium.
The Blues started brightly but were stunned by two West Ham goals from nothing, and then struggled to break the resilient hammers down once they had the lead.
Antonio Conte’s side were sloppy in attack, wasting plenty of chances and putting poor deliveries into the box throughout the game. Michy Batshuayi was particularly isolated up front.
Things brightened up with the introduction of Eden Hazard and Diego Costa later on, but even they were guilty of missing opportunities, and it was too little too late in the end. Gary Cahill’s late goal was a consolation, but really should have been at the very least an equaliser given the opportunities that the Blues had had.
Chelsea were not helped by a hostile atmosphere in Stratford, which ended in crowd trouble in the closing minutes.
It’s disappointing to see that switching even a few first team players out is enough to weaken the squad significantly. It’s a timely reminder that this squad is not yet ready to challenge on multiple fronts.
