West Ham 0 Chelsea 1

West Ham started with Dyer and Noble in midfield and, perhaps understandably, it took the two of them a while to get on the same wavelength and for much of the first half they were wasteful in possession.

Chelsea dominated much of the first twenty minutes. However it was West Ham who created the best early chance, when a good chipped pass from Lucas Neill from deep on the right played Tristan into the box. However Tristan was unable to control the ball and the move came to nothing. Chelsea then immediately counter attacked and the move ended with Malouda firing across the goalmouth from wide left of the six yard box. The ball just missed the right hand post as it went wide.

In the 19th minute, the best chance of the half fell to Dyer when he was played clean through by Tristan. However Dyer shot rather tamely from nine yards and it was a far too easy save for Cech in goal. Chelsea had a good chance in the 23rd minute when Lampard met a Malouda cross at the near post six yards out but he shot wide of the left hand post.

Apart from the Lampard effort Chelsea were restricted to long shots by the West Ham defence. West Ham actually had the ball cleared off the line in the 41st minute when Upson won a header from a corner and Tristan just managed to flick the ball goalwards only for Mikel to clear the ball off the line.


Straight after the restart West Ham had a good chance to take the lead when Stanislas passed to Tristan on the edge of the box. However Tristan dallied on the ball and by the time he shot the defence had recovered enough to block the shot. In the 54th minute it was Chelsea who actually took the lead. Lampard crossed the ball from the left inside the penalty area to the far post where Kalou had time to chest the ball down and score form five yards.

Straight from the restart West Ham attacked and Dyer shot from 15 yards forcing Cech to save at full stretch, pushing the ball wide. That was the last significant involvement for Dyer as in the 60th minute Kovac replaced him and Sears was brought on for Di Michele.

In the 64th minute Bellitti played Anelka free but Green came out well to save the shot low down. Forty seconds later and Cole cut in from the left and shot from out wide, hitting the crossbar with his effort.

In the 69th minute Tristan played a back heel for Illunga running into the box. Kalou pulled back Illunga for a clear penalty for West Ham. Unfortunately Noble's penalty was saved at full stretch by Cech diving to his left.

After that West Ham never really looked like getting back into the game. The team have not picked up many points in the last few games but have performed well considering the number of injuries to the squad. All we really need is a little quality up front to put away a few of the chances we are creating.