West Ham United 0-3 Chelsea

Article by Chelsea Correspondent Robert Wake

Chelsea ruthlessly exploited a disjointed, toothless West Ham side who surrendered first the initiative, and ultimately the game to the visitors inside the opening 33 minutes. Sam Allardyce inexplicably, given Chelsea’s uncertainty at Newcastle, opted for a 4-5-1 formation with Kevin Nolan deployed as a ‘false 9’, which in reality was a massive ‘faux pas’ on his part, as it allowed Chelsea to dominate from the start, quieten the home support, and build the platform to run out comfortable winners. Jose Mourinho, perhaps anticipating the home side flooding the midfield area, set Chelsea up in a fluid 4-3-3 formation, allowing greater freedom for Frank Lampard and Ramires to join the attacks, with John Mikel Obi shielding the back four.

After a largely uneventful opening 20 minutes, the home side gifted Chelsea the lead. Right-back Guy Demel under hit a back-pass, allowing the ever alert Oscar to reach the ball ahead of the on rushing Jussi Jaaskelainen. The Finn’s momentum took him crashing into Oscar for a clear Penalty. Frank Lampard, ignoring the jeers of the home faithful, thumped the spot-kick down the middle.

West Ham were clearly shaken. In the absence of a genuine centre forward, their only outlet was Stewart Downing, who, for the most part was well marshalled by Branislav Ivanovic. Despite a 5-man midfield, West Ham were repeatedly out-manoeuvred by slick Chelsea passing, and it was little surprise when Chelsea doubled their advantage on 33 minutes through the excellent Oscar. The diminutive Brazilian collected Eden Hazard’s flick, and when no challenge was offered, moved forward and dispatched a well placed shot into the bottom corner.

At this point in proceedings, the home side were in disarray, and Allardyce, belatedly realising the folly of his team selection, made a double substitution five minutes before the break, replacing Jack Collison with Modibo Maiga, and, much to the chagrin of the home support, Joe Cole with Mohamed Diame. It almost got worse for The Hammers before the break, as Jaaskelainen had to be at full stretch to turn away Samuel Eto’o’s curling shot.

West Ham, having doubtless copped an earful from Allardyce over their half-time cuppa, did improve after the break; they could barely have got any worse, but the damage had already been done. Gary Cahill, had a header cleared off the line for Chelsea, and Maiga blazed wide when well placed, before the game was finally put to bed on 82 minutes. Ivanovic’s cross from the right found Hazard, whose blocked effort ran kindly for Lampard to hit crisply past Jaaskelainen.

Chelsea could afford the luxury of withdrawing the tireless Oscar for Andre Schurrle and replacing Hazard with the lesser-spotted Michael Essien, before West Ham finally managed their only attempt on target in the 93rd minute.

West Ham (4-5-1): Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Tomkins, O’Brien, J.Cole (Diame 40), Collison (Maiga 40), Noble, Morrison, Downing, Nolan (Jarvis 76)

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Hazard (Essien 84), Oscar (Schurrle 83), Eto’o (Ba 78)

Goals: Lampard 21 (Pen) & 82, Oscar 33

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