Chelsea 1 – 0 West Ham

There wasn’t much to note in the first half of this game bar the unexpected resilience of West Ham as they denied a lethargic Chelsea time on the ball which made for a very tight first 45mins.

The best chance fell to Drogba after 8mins during a spell where the home side had their opponents pinned back. The Chelsea striker bent his shot just wide of the top corner though. From then Chelsea were reduced to long range efforts as West Hams game plan looked to be working nicely.

West Ham became more settled as the half wore on and on 31mins almost had a goal of their own with Solano’s cheeky lob almost catching Cudicini out.

It wasn’t a great spectacle but there was s sparkling piece of play just before the break. After a good move down the right, Drogba dummied a cross at the front post only for Belletti to arrive just too late to provide the finishing touch.

Chelsea stepped it up a gear for the second half and from the off they were causing the Hammers more problems.

The higher tempo saw more space open up with Lampard, Joe Cole and Kalou all finding room to shoot.

It turned into a completely different match to the first half but West Ham were equally as resolute. They never really threatened Chelsea despite the room created for the counter.

Chelsea were looking like they might be frustrated when on 72mins the goal came. A flick on form Drogba found Kalou who headed on for the overlapping Cole who rounded the keeper and found the top corner form a tight angle.

They almost doubled there tally minutes later when Drogba’s diving header went just wide following a great ball in form Wright-Philips.

Chelsea took command of the remaining time, retained possession and killed off the game like any top side showing that their certainly not out of the title race.

West Ham can take something from the game as their performance showed a great work ethic and new level of organisation.