After beating one London rival for silverware on Sunday, Chelsea FC would go head to head with another on Wednesday in the form of West Ham United. Chelsea would no doubt be looking to claim all three points, and open up an even bigger lead in the English Prmier League title race. West Ham would see this as an opportunity to maybe make a second half push. The East London outfit started the season hot, but now find themselves solidly in mid-table.
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Chelsea got the action started in the 7th minute, Winston Reid had gone down with an injury, and Chelsea were taking advantage of having an extra man. Diego Costa was found inside the box following a great passage of play but the forward couldn’t strike the ball cleanly, and sent his shot sailing over the crossbar.
West Ham had the first real chance in the 16th minute, after Kevin Nolan almost scored after Chelsea were unable to clear a penalty. Thibaut Courtois got down and made a good save to keep the game scoreless.
The breakthrough would come for Chelsea in the 21st minute, and it would come through a quick counter attack. Cesc Fabregas found Ramires making a run down the right flank. The Brazilian lofted a ball in, and found Eden Hazard, who finished uncharacteristically with his head. The Hammers had started the game well, but now found themselves down 1-0.
Courtois was the hero again for Chelsea in the 35th minute. Carl Jenkinson put in a great cross for Diafra Sakho, but the Chelsea keeper was once again equal to the task and prevented West Ham from scoring once again.
The first half is exactly what you’d expect from a London derby, a physical, tightly contested affair. West Ham had spurts of positive play, but couldn’t get the end result right. Jose Mourinho would surely be telling his men to press for an early goal in the second half, Chelsea with a 2-0 lead are extremely difficult to claw back, no matter where the game is taking place.
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It would be West Ham who started the second half on the front foot, with Sakho nearly scoring within five minutes of the restart, but it was again Courtois who kept the game at 1-0.
Adrian would get his chance to make a super save, after he denied a point-blank effort from Ramires, and avoided a 2-0 deficit.
With West Ham gaining confidence with every attack, it took some great individual efforts from Chelsea to hold onto their precious 1-0 lead. Courtois, as well as Gary Cahill got in on the action to preserve the lead.
Again, West Ham would continue to create chances for themselves, utilizing the wings to create space and get crosses in the box.
With six additional minutes, the Hammers had plenty of time to try to equalize, but it was actually Chelsea who had an opportunity to put the game to rest. Eden Hazard created a chance for Willian, but his shot was cleared off the line.
It turned out that would be the last chance for either side, as Chelsea would leave Upton Park with a hard-earned 1-0 victory. In doing so, Chelsea will maintain a somewhat comfortable lead in the league table, and have momentum going towards next weeks UEFA Champions League match.
MOTM: Thibaut Courtois – Who else? The goalkeeper continues to show why he is one of the best young players in the world. Courtois made multiple big saves to keep a clean sheet.
Photos by @cfcunoffical. On Twitter and at CFCUnofficial.com
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