Chelsea are held by resolute West Ham

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Chelsea 0 West Ham 0

Chelsea endured a frustrating night at Stamford Bridge, where they missed out on an eighth consecutive victory.

The Blues piled forward throughout, dominating possession and peppering the goal with 39 attempts in total.

But the Hammers, who only managed one shot on target, stood firm to leave Chelsea in third in the Premier League table, three points behind new leaders Manchester City following their 5-1 hammering of Tottenham.

Oscar went closest to scoring when his early effort from the left-hand edge of the penalty area struck the bar after West Ham keeper Adrian managed to get a slight touch.

Adrian produced two other first-half saves, keeping out John Terry’s header from Willian’s corner and denying Samuel Eto’o with a near-post stop.

At the other end, Andy Carroll wanted a penalty following a far-post tangle with Cesar Azpilicueta but referee Neil Swarbrick was having none of it.

And Blues keeper Petr Cech produced a good save when he dived to his right to push away James Tomkins’ header from Stewart Downing’s left-wing free-kick.

Adrian was called into action again soon after the interval, defying the wet conditions to hold Oscar’s low shot.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho made major changes on 63 minutes, switching to three at the back and replacing Azpilicueta and John Mikel Obi with Frank Lampard and Nemanja Matic.

But the Hammers continued to defend resolutely – and finished the match with 10 men after Joey O’Brien went off with a dislocated shoulder.

In injury time, substitute Demba Ba’s close-range effort hit the post and Lampard was denied by yet another Adrian save.

And Eto’o thought he had scored when he tapped into the net, believing Adrian had wrongly placed the ball for a free-kick, but his effort was disallowed.

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta (Lampard 63); Ramires, Mikel (Matic 63); Willian, Oscar (Ba 79), Hazard; Eto’o.
Subs not used: Schwarzer, Cole, Luiz, Schurrle.

 

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