As the sun set majestically in East London, so did Chelsea’s
hopes of silverware in this increasingly important competition, as West Ham
United ran out comfortable winners at the London Stadium.
Due to
unwarranted media attention, the fixture needed no introduction and there was a
palpable buzz around the stadium, as the nigh on capacity crowd descended upon
Stratford. There was vociferous singing and some volatile chanting preceding
the match and well into the first half. On the whole, despite the typical
goading and schadenfreude, little between the vast majority of supporters
seemed amiss.
Chelsea’s
continuity most certainly was mind you, as a revitalised West Ham took full
advantage of a lacklustre Chelsea display, typified by the woefully off-key Jon
Terry.
West
Ham continued with their 3-5-2 formation that has brought them some success
over the past few weeks and more importantly, seven points. This time it was the
in-form Michail Antonio’s turn to start up front and his pace and aggression
caused the Chelsea stalwart a mountain of issues at the back.
A
bright start from the Hammers was rewarded when Mark Noble’s pinpoint cross was
met by Cheikhou Kouyate’s head who directed a sharp header, past the
outstretched Asmir Begovic, for nothing less than the hosts deserved, an early
one-nil lead.
Chelsea,
despite making seven changes, fielded a very strong team and in particular
Nathaniel Chalobah looked quick and dangerous on the break. Batshuayi however,
was not so clinical in front of goal, as the few attempts the visitors had, landed
safely in the welcoming arms of Darren Randolph.
Mark
Noble as usual, summed up the ferocity and desire in the West Ham camp and put
in some thumping, yet legal tackles in the middle of the park, which certainly
helped to keep the likes of N’Golo Kante and Ola Aina quiet for a large part of
the first half.
As the
half drew to a close, West Ham were the ones clinging on a little for dear
life, as the legs tired. Chelsea continued to attack but found a stubborn
defensive resistance and a competent goal keeping performance from the Irons
number 1 in number, if not in name.
Anxious
West Ham spirits were lifted once more, early in the second half, as Edmilson
Fernandes wonder strike from the edge of the area sent the stadium into further
rapture. It was the perfect time to score and West Ham seemed home and dry.
However,
Chelsea were not ready to roll over and with half an hour left, Antonio Conte
rang the changes. Pedro, Costa and Hazard were all introduced and had an
immediate impact as the West Londoners came ever closer to finding the back of
the net.
In one
particularly fluent move in the 83rd minute, Costa seemed to have
chipped Randolph to find the back of the net, only to watch the ball dribble
agonizingly wide of the upright and out for a goal kick.
West
Ham defended stoutly but fell afoul of the proverbial kitchen sink as in the 94th
minute Gary Cahill bundled in a questionable goal. However, it was too late and
the referee’s final whistle blew much to the relief and dare I say it, shock of
the Upton Park faithful.
Let’s
face it, West Ham have had a stuttering start to the season, while Chelsea’s
display on Sunday against Mourinho’s United was nothing short of sublime. Yet,
West Ham looked like they had slipped it into fourth gear and are beginning to
get back to the heady heights that were reached last season. There is still no
out and out striker of any real quality fully fit, which makes the victory even
sweeter.
With
that in mind and players coming back, there is no reason not to feel confident
as the mighty Irons travel to Old Trafford in the next round of the EFL Cup.
Next up though, is a visit to Everton FC this Sunday in the Premier League. Surely
some sort of result here will signal crisis over for Bilic and his happy
Hammers?
With
regards to the ‘trouble,’ let me just say that this has been quite ferociously
over-egged by all and sundry in the media. Yes, there was the usual arm-waving
and ‘my flymo’s bigger than your flymo’ type of banter, but in the grand scheme
of things, this was largely just kids on their half term wanting to relive
their wet dreams over Football Factory and being part of the mob. The ICF and
Headhunters are most certainly not back, that is for sure. To put it another
way, if you saw the Skysports coverage, that was the extent of it. As a
spectator, I felt mildly miffed and worried about my train, in the case of being
further delayed out of the ground. I wasn’t phoning the Samaritans this morning
in need of a friendly voice, like the feeding frenzy might suggest.
The
most unsavoury events that occurred for me were two-fold. Firstly, being handed
a piece of paper near entry from a West Ham ‘fan’ encouraging us to sing
homophobic chants about Costa and Terry. This is to the tune of Dimitri Payet
(the fan spelt his name wrong too). Thankfully, I think most fans threw down
the paper in disgust, like I, rather than get involved and the Payet song rang harmoniously
around the ground throughout the game, with no amended lyrics.
Secondly,
some of the ‘banter’ for want of a better word around me was quite frankly,
vile. I have alluded to this earlier, but much to my disappointment, I feel it
needs further mention. We’ve all been there, getting involved one too many
bevvies or poison of your choice, yet the personal nature of some of the
chanting was just not what I’ve heard before at West Ham.
Behind
us, in block 113 stood a group of wannabe TOWIE twonks, in their cheap Primarni
suits, thinking they could do and say what they want. They could be no more
than 18 or 19 and when they weren’t telling one portly Chelsea fan, minding his
own business that his ‘wife should be ashamed of him,’ they were informing
another young away supporter that his girlfriend next to her ‘had chlamydia and
was going to suck them off.’
It was
all a bit puerile and not very West Ham for me. We all like giving John Terry
the gears, but none of us pay the money to support our team to get goaded by
slick-haired oiks, fuelled by warm carling and synthetic cocaine, who would run
a mile when faced with the people they choose to chastise.
Anyway,
the new stadium brings a lot of positives but also its negatives. Football-wise
West Ham were outstanding and not a million miles from their best tonight. Long
may it continue.
