Chelsea made matters worse for them after drawing 1-1 against West Ham United at Stamford Bridge tonight. Arsenal have come into touching distance of their 5th spot in the Premier League table and Tottenham Hotspur have surged ahead with a 10-point lead in the 4th.
Antonio Conte’s men opened the scoring in the first half from one of their 10 corner kicks. The ball in front of Marko Arnautovic inside the Hammers penalty box but Azpilicueta quickly reacted to get in front of the Austrian and put it into the back of the net, well away from Joe Hart. 1-0
The Blues created a plethora of scoring opportunities for themselves but could not convert any. This allowed the visitors to work there way into the game and in the 73rd minute Chicharito Hernandez delved out the punishment. Arnautovic found the Mexican international inside a congested penalty box and Hernandez curled in a thumping effort towards the near post. 1-1
The match pretty much turned into an end-to-end affair after the equaliser as both sides tried to grab the three points but in the end couldn’t.
Here is how the Chelsea players were rated on the night.
Thibaut Courtois – 6/10
Could not do much against Hernandez’s goal. He was almost irrelevant in the first half.
César Azpilicueta – 8/10
Almost a striker-like reactionary instincts to get the first goal for Chelsea. Equally sharp at the backline to stop the dangerous Marko Arnautovic.
Gary Cahill – 5/10
A poor clearing header led to West Ham’s equaliser. He even let Arnautovic get behind him on a few occasions.
Antonio Rudiger – 6/10
Did not get to see his eye-catching diagonal balls tonight but a decent shift at the back.
Victor Moses – 7/10
A solid shift by the Nigerian on both ends of the pitch. His crosses were on point and so was his marking. Did not allow Arthur Masuaku an inch of space on the right-hand side.
Marcos Alonso – 6/10
A good battle between the Spaniard and the veteran Pablo Zabaleta ensued. Alonso was characteristically adventurous on the offensive end and had a powerful effort on goal, only to be denied by Joe Hart.
Cesc Fabregas – 6/10
He did the needful and linked up the Chelsea attacks but was not allowed much time on the ball.
N’Golo Kante – 7/10
Covered every blade of grass and won the ball back for his team on countless occasions. Might have been guilty of giving away a penalty but otherwise flawless.
Willian – 6/10
The Brazilian could have put the game to bed with two of his clear chances.
Eden Hazard – 8/10
Sliced through the Hammers defence with ease and setup both Morata and Willian clear on goal. The Belgian looked untouchable in the first half but fell out in the second.
Alvaro Morata – 6/10
Much better display from the Spaniard. He ran the channels and found himself in plenty of scoring positions. He even had a strong connection to one of the corner kicks but unfortunately sprayed it wide from goal.
Substitutes:
Pedro – 4/10
Came on to make an impact but ended up disrupting the Blues attacks.
Olivier Giroud – NA
