Chelsea 0 West Ham 1: Aaron Cresswell winner stuns Blues who suffer consecutive league losses
FRANK LAMPARD broke records as a Chelsea player.
But becoming the first Blues boss to lose at home to West Ham for 17 years is a bit of history he won’t care to remember making.
And Hammers’ fans are unlikely to enjoy any result as much as this one all season.
A morale-boosting afternoon ended with the sight of visiting goalkeeper David Martin hugging his dad, West Ham legend Alvin Martin, in celebration of a successful debut.
Manuel Pellegrini’s team were well worth their victory. If the Hammers board were tempted to follow Arsenal’s example in sacking Unai Emery, this should make them think again.
Aaron Crewsswell’s goal early in the second half provided the mathematical difference between the teams. But the real contrast was between the West Ham of this weekend and the dismal shower that had lost to Tottenham seven days earlier.
Almost to a man, they were committed and composed. Although it’s harsh to pick out individuals from a real team performance, Fabian Balbuena was strong at the back, Michail Antonio ran himself into the ground up front and Declan Rice had his best game for weeks.
In his first senior head-to-head with close friend Mason Mount, Rice was the clear winner. He may not have got that lift home from Mount after all.
He was everywhere, doing his bit in a strong defensive performance and leading the charge when West Ham tried to break in the second half.
Chelsea ran out of time and ideas. Lampard was in the Blues side that lost 3-2 to West Ham at Stamford Bridge in September 2002 and a second home league defeat as manager Chelsea completed an unwanted double.
The latest clash between the club which raised Lampard and the one where he became a legend came with the usual health warning, for him and for basic common decency.
From the start the away fans sang lustily about Chelsea being “rentboys” and Lampard being a “w**ker” “everywhere they go”.
The West Ham players had been pretty awful almost everywhere they’d been recently.
It was no surprise that Pellegrini made four changes from the side that had started the defeat against Tottenham which had been far more miserable than the 3-2 scoreline suggested.
Comedy goalkeeper Roberto finally paid the price for a string of bizarre performances and in came Martin for his Premier League debut.
But in the first half the most significant alteration was the return to the starting line-up of Antonio.
His comeback from injury as a substitute against Spurs had almost inspired an undeserved comeback.
Making his first league start since the opening day of the season, Antonio replaced out-of-form centre forward Sebastien Haller and had the best two chances of the opening 45 minutes.
For the first, he got in front of Fikayo Tomori to meet an Aaron Cresswell cross but could not direct his volley on target.
Then, just before the half hour, he met a Robert Snodgrass centre with a firm stooping header but Kepa pushed it away.
In between, Chelsea dominated possession and had all the chances, without forcing Martin into a difficult save.
Lampard had gone for a major rotation, changing half the outfield players from the team that had looked leggy in the Champions League draw against Valencia.
Only the injured Tammy Abraham was an enforced absentee, but although there were flashes of fluency, it was not the vibrant Chelsea that even some neutrals had come to know and love.
Much of Chelsea’s frustration was due to the hard work and defending of the visitors.
Pellegrini’s side were irrecognisable from the rabble that had sleep-walked to falling 3-0 behind the previous weekend.
Martin, dubbed “England’s No 1” by the travelling fans, was a little unconvincing in keeping out a long-range Mateo Kovacic effort.
But the only real moment of alarm came in stoppage-time when Christian Pulisic was unable to turn in a Reece James cross at the far post.
Less than three minutes after the restart, Cresswell struck.
James had had a decent game going forward but he allowed the West Ham left back to cut inside him too easily before applying an impressive finish with his “wrong” foot.
It should have been two around the hour mark. From one Snodgrass corner, Balbuena forced Kepa into a fine save. From the resulting second, the West Ham centre back again won the ball but Antonio was unable to adjust his body so he could force the ball home from close range.
Lampard had seen enough and sent on N’Golo Kante and Willian to save the game.
Willian was almost responsible for them losing it when he allowed Snodgrass to beat him and cross to the far post, where Antonio bundled the ball into the net.
£1 FREE BET Try your luck with a free bet on any sport with Ladbrokes
Chelsea news
But a VAR review showed his first touch had been with his arm and Chelsea had a reprieve.
Lampard made his last throw of the dice, bringing on Callum Hudson-Odoi for Olivier Giroud.
Martin made a decent save when Pulisic connected with a Willlian cross, but the winger should have done better than snatch at a shot in the 89th minute.
