Kiwi pair enjoy top day in EPL
All Whites Chris Wood and Winston Reid have tasted victory in the English Premier League with Reid’s West Ham United upsetting champions Chelsea.
The Hammers beat Chelsea 1-0 yesterday with Reid contributing to a clean sheet after returning from a hamstring niggle.
Wood led the Burnley attack in a 1-0 victory over 10-man Watford with Scott Arfield netting the winner.
Marko Arnautovic’s early strike was backed up by a resilient defensive display that ended an eight-game winless run for West Ham and provided a first victory under David Moyes.
Chelsea’s fourth loss of the season frustrated manager Antonio Conte.
‘‘To talk about a title race after a defeat I think is a bit strange, sspecially if this is the fourth defeat in this season in 16 games.’’ Conte said. ‘‘When you have this start it’s impossible to think you are in the title race.’’
Chelsea appeared to have overcome a slow start to the season, entering the game in third place and on a seven-game unbeaten run that stretched back to a similarly surprising defeat to then-bottom side Crystal Palace in October.
‘‘When you lose against Crystal Palace at the bottom of the table and now to lose again, against West Ham - that at this moment is in a bad position in the table - if you lose points in these games it means you are not in the title race,’’ Conte said.
West Ham’s intensity was too much for Chelsea in the opening stages and they were rewarded after just six minutes when Arnautovic applied a fitting finish to a flowing move.
Pablo Zabaleta and Michail Antonio worked the ball to Arnautovic’s feet on the edge of the box, where he exchanged passes with Manuel Lanzini before sending a left-footed effort into the bottom corner.
From then on West Ham retreated, often defending with all 11 players inside their own third of the pitch at the Olympic Stadium.
The approach worked for the most part as Chelsea rarely tested goalkeeper Adrian, picked ahead of England’s Joe Hart. The Blues’ best chance came in the closing stages as Alvaro Morata dragged his shot wide, having been put clean through on goal.
‘‘A really good start to the game by us and then we got a goal, which was a really well worked goal and then it was a completely disciplined, organised performance,’’ said Moyes, who replaced Slaven Bilic in early November.
Scott Arfield scored the only goal of the game for hosts Burnley on the stroke of halftime shortly after Marvin Zeegelaar had been sent off for the visitors.
The two sides have impressed this season with Burnley coming into the game seventh, three points and a place above Watford. The victory gives Sean Dyche’s team a six-point advantage over Watford and keeps them level on points with Tottenham and Arsenal.
The game turned in the closing stages of the first period. Zeegelaar was shown a straight red card for a two-footed tackle on Steven Defour and Burnley took just six minutes to make its advantage count.
Arfield beat Daryl Janmaat before finding the bottom corner and Burnley held on for a fifth home clean sheet of the season to secure victory.
Watford manager Marco Silva was disappointed at the red card.
‘‘I saw the challenge during the match and again at halftime,’’ he told BBC Sport. ‘‘I don’t want to talk here about the referee but I think everyone understands his big influence on the match. That one moment made a big difference.’’
Burnley boss Sean Dyche was ‘‘really pleased with the result’’.
Elsewhere yesterday, Tottenham hammered Stoke City 5-1, Swansea picked up an important 1-0 win over fellow strugglers West Brom and Huddersfield beat Brighton 2-0.