London is blue. And London has been blue. And before this weekend, Chelsea had won seven back-to-back away derbies against London-based resistance, flush .

And yet, after the misfortune of the United bet on and the lackluster performance midweek, not to mention our accumulating injuries and the floor of bid at which David Moyes has gotten West Ham to play, we needed to be even more wary than usual of this crosstown trip .

Chelsea lined up in the typical 3-4-2-1 formation to start, with four changes from midweek. Jorginho was a necessary summation to the midfield and Ruben Loftus-Cheek seems to have a significantly better compass on his function whenever a aged midfielder is on the peddle next to him .
up front, Romelu Lukaku was inactive not in full fit, while Timo Werner remained on the bench, thus Kai Havertz got the nod again. Hakim Ziyech and Mason Mount served as the two No.10s in support after both got on the scoresheet midweek .



The issue of changes to lineups this season, forced by injury, team rotation, or structural reorganization, have, at times, minimized the coherence between those on the pitch. Earlier this season, with a more fully paroxysm police squad, changes were frequently made one or two at a time, which is far less disruptive to the team ’ randomness cycle. recently, resulting from that accretion of injuries, we have been forced to play out of form players, or in-form players out of military position .

West Ham played an wholly new formation, ditching their typical 4-2-3-1 and mimicking the 3-4-2-1 transport out by Chelsea. Tuchel likely was not expecting this, as Moyes had been staunchly disciple to the 4-2-3-1 careless of contest or rival .
In the inaugural half, Chelsea were the prepotent side and forced West Ham into a 5-2-2-1 and sequester Michail Antonio up top — basically seven players tasked with defending at all times for the home side .



possibly unsurprisingly then, it took a set piece to open the marking — though surprisingly it were not the Hammers to do therefore, despite leading the league in such goals .
While coach Anthony Barry has been receiving plaudits for his set man bring with the team, credit for this goal is less in the tactics and more in individual murder. It boils down to Thiago Silva ’ mho will and effective aim, and Michail Antonio ’ s decision to become a corner, growing roots to let the ball fly over his capitulum and onto Silva ’ sulfur. Easy as you ’ d like .



While Chelsea were in see, we were served an immediate reminder that we would not be cruising to a acquire so easily .
West Ham ’ s very foremost attack after our goal needed a goal-line clearance from the goalscorer himself — Thiago Silva with a two-goal swing all by himself !



Chelsea resumed see after that and were finding success on both flanks ( the middle congested with West Ham ’ s seven defenders ), creating enough of shots, though not many from eminent probability angles. Lukasz Fabianski was able to finish with a keep open share well above the league average .



Chelsea ’ s facade of control was shattered unfortunately with an entirely self-inflicted wind, when a poor back pass from Jorginho and some equally poor decision-making from Mendy contrived to give away a punishment — Mendy fouling the annoying Jarrod Bowen .
The descry bang was punctually dispatched by Manuel Lanzini for his one-third career goal against the Blues in nine appearances .



distillery, we would go into the half with the lead .
Loftus-Cheek spring a counter-attack after West Ham ’ s inaugural veridical controlled spell of possession in our half, passing up a few chances to put a ball into the box and prefer to keep the ball alternatively. But Declan Rice, who had a great game otherwise, misplayed a die. Loftus-Cheek stole the ball and was able to advance, for once without West Ham having numbers back or being defensively set.




With Rice covering the run of Havertz down the middle, Loftus-Cheek choose to go leave towards Ziyech, with Mount besides joining the attack and advancing on the other flank .



The ball international relations and security network ’ t bang-up as it curves away from the military action and Ziyech ’ s first base partake international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate perfect either, forcing him to check back a bite. But then his long diagonal into the box is in fact perfect, arriving equitable as Mount arrives at the conclusion of his lung-busting move .



With West Ham ’ s center halves occupied with the run of Havertz, Mount is left wide open at the far post. He could take a touch if he wanted to, but he opts for a side-footed first-time finish up alternatively … and it was glorious indeed .
After such a high death year and a slower get down to the season, Mount has again been enormously impressive this workweek .



In the first half, Chelsea penned West Ham back, with the exception of a few bouts of counterpressure. With advance positions and literally every player on the pitch having a shot on prey, we were trying through all avenues to keep our goals coming .



however, the second base half was nothing like the foremost. Chelsea were forced into a change at the break as Kai Havertz was injured by a Kurt Zouma ( sigh ) harness, and replaced by Romelu Lukaku. For the Hammers, Arthur Masuaku was put on for Ben Johnson just before the rupture after Johnson pulled up with a muscle injury .
While these two events are unrelated, they both played a character in the result. West Ham were playing better and increasing their monomania after the first base goal. They would be rewarded by a fortunate hit from Chelsea ’ s thorn in the side all day, Jarrod Bowen .
Antonio, after checking to receive a testis, made a flit run towards our box and, although Silva won the header, Vladimír Coufal was there to pick up the pieces. He squared for Bowen and, with Mendy unsighted, he arrowed a shoot into the far corner through the legs of Christensen .



A charge peer brought more changes to the crippled. Callum Hudson-Odoi was subbed on for Ziyech in hopes of finding space through width, as we had during our best period of the game. But the hosts were now besides invigorated by going degree for the second time .
West Ham were effective at creating goalscoring opportunities from the flanks and created a high number of chances relative to their possession, with a high shoot frequency while on the ball. once again, conversion rates would come to haunt us : our 10 % being besides low and their 27 % being besides high .



christian Pulisic would come on for Alonso, who would exit the field holding his back, which sent Hudson-Odoi to wingback. This would only garner West Ham ’ s confidence going advancing, knowing that Hudson-Odoi ’ second preference would be to attack. Antonio wasted no meter in proving that by bullishly running CHO off the ball and presenting another gamble to the boring ( but obviously untiring ) Bowen .



An entertain, at least for a time, match ensued and was only dampened by the hosts ’ bouncy defend and attacking. In the last fifteen minutes, we were doing wonderfully to open up their veracious side in repeated long spells of self-control. They were doing the lapp down our right and had shifted into their choose 4-2-3-1 at this point. That mattered because Antonio playing deeper would lead to their winner .
After forcing Christensen into a headroom for a throw, Antonio showed liveliness to both make the initial flit streak and quickly receive the throw from Masuaku. Masuaku receives it back straight away but is not put under coerce by Loftus-Cheek, so James has two to mark and can not commit to a challenge. Loftus-Cheek instructs James to pick up the run of Antonio and so far does not close down on the ball. With that space, Masuaku aims a crabbed towards Souček, but slices it badly and rather beats Mendy at his dear post .
An absolute fluke, but it counted fair the like .



It was a atrocious way to conclude the bowler hat, but a testament to why West Ham are the leaders of the chase pack and have inflicted such damage on the big teams in the process.

Mount commented afterwards that the team were a adult leggy and tired, both physically and mentally. There is no break in December, so permit ’ s hope the lend injuries from the sidereal day heal quickly and those out come back very soon .
I can ’ thymine finish on a negative bill, so enjoy this pinch .
KTBFFH .