West Ham 0-1 Chelsea: Werner ends his scoring drought, Chelsea at fourth spot

Chilwell-Timo Werner-Chelsea

Chelsea piped out strong-looking West Ham to earn three crucial points in the top-four race.

Timo Werner managed to end his scoring drought as he helped Chelsea pick up a narrow 1- 0 win against West Ham, who were forced to play with ten men for the final 10 minutes due to Balbuena’s red card.

The Blues were coming off a stalemate against Brighton, and they were aware of a fact that a win against another top-four contender’s West Ham could hand them a big advantage.

Timo Werner provided the lead for the visitors minutes before half time after what looked like a straight-forward finish from the German, who was fed by Ben Chilwell’s cross.

The former Leipzig man had a great chance to put Chelsea on the driver, but he squandered like he had done before on many occasions this season.

Nonetheless, Thomas Tuchel’s men were able to see off Hammer, with Balbuena’s dismissal towards the latter stage helping to their advantage.

Perhaps, the Blues’ defence has been a standout under Tuchel, and it was a similar story against West Ham.

Hammers didn’t cause much trouble to Chelsea’s defence as they managed only two shots on target while being inferior in the possession.

David Moyes’ side failed to win their second game in a row as they had previously suffered a close defeat to Newcastle United.

The defeat leaves Hammers fifth in the Premier League table while the Blues have moved ahead of them at fourth place by three points.

Werner’s strike meant that he had finally broken his seven-match goalless streak, and his goals and assists tally has risen to more than 20 across all competitions this season.

Fabian Balbuena received controversial Red Card

Balbuena received a controversial red card at 80th minute of the game, as referee went on to review the actions with sideline monitor. West Ham manager David Moyes was furious with the decision. He was not happy with a potential penalty decision against Chelsea, when the ball touched César Azpilicueta’s arm after hitting his chest.

Statistics and Reactions

I can only say it’s someone who’s never played the game who’s made the decision,” added Moyes, whose side remain fifth in the table.

For me the big thing is it’s a really rank, rotten decision and it shouldn’t be given.

Where’s he meant to put his foot? There was a similar incident with Vladimir Coufal on Antonio Rudiger. 

That would have at least merited a yellow if the first one was a red. I think we’ve had a day where the refereeing has been really poor.

David Moyes, West Ham United Manager

He needs to keep on scoring and catch the moment. He is quite often involved in our goals, even in the last weeks with fouls in the penalty area, or assists like against Man City. Nothing helps more than scoring goals.

I felt him very strong today from the start. He was very good at distributing the ball, dropping from the number nine position and keeping the ball for us, and he had good timings in the deep runs behind the line. He was involved in many chances and half-chances.

It was very nice he could score. He could have had a second one for sure, and after that he lost his confidence a bit and was a bit tired, but it was a good performance from him.

The victory would give the Blues a much-needed momentum ahead of their Champions League semi-final clash against Real Madrid.

Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea manager
None of Chelsea's starting defenders were dribbled past vs. West Ham today. They kept Jesse Lingard & co at bay all evening.
Thomas Tuchel is the first manager in Chelsea's history to remain unbeaten in his first 10 away games.

Timo Werner has been directly involved in 20 goals for Chelsea this season (11 goals, 9 assists); the most of any player for the club. #WHUCHE #CFC

Line-ups

West Ham United

Lukasz Fabianski, Angelo Ogbonna, Issa Diop, Fabián Balbuena, Tomas Soucek, Mark Noble (Manuel Lanzini), Pablo Fornals (Saïd Benrahma), Ryan Fredericks (Ben Johnson), Vladimir Coufal, Jesse Lingard, Jarrod Bowen.

Substitutes

Darren Randolph, Andriy Yarmolenko, Nathan Trott, Conor Coventry, Frederik Alves, Ademipo Odubeko.

Chelsea

Édouard Mendy, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rüdiger, Andreas Christensen, Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté, Ben Chilwell, César Azpilicueta (Reece James), Timo Werner (Tammy Abraham), Christian Pulisic (Hakim Ziyech), Mason Mount.

Substitutes

Marcos Alonso, Kurt Zouma, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Kai Havertz, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Billy Gilmour.