CHELSEA’S FLYING START GRINDS TO HALT AS WEST HAM FIND A STUBBORN STREAK
▶ Hammers earn first clean sheet under Pellegrini as Sarri’s side fail to maintain 100 per cent record
It was an unwanted first for Maurizio Sarri. His Chelsea had not been prevented from winning or scoring in his brief, encouraging reign until they encountered a West Ham United side who have discovered their obdurate streak.
Unflashy qualities, of organisation and determination, prevailed. West Ham can be accused of having delusions of grandeur, but a stalemate doubled up as a triumph for earthier values.
Pointless after four games, they have four points from the last two. A maiden clean sheet under Manuel Pellegrini offered others an object lesson in how to play Sarri’s Chelsea.
A compact side packed the midfield and counter-attacked. West Ham should have won it, Andriy Yarmolenko heading the replacement Robert Snodgrass’ cross wide when he ought to have scored, but if Chelsea dominated every marker bar the scoreline, theirs was a sterile brand of domination.
It cast their fine start in a different light. Their five victims include three teams who are yet to win. Stiffer tests await, although Chelsea could have gone into Saturday’s clash with Liverpool with both sides boasting six straight victories.
Yet two of their best opportunities fell to the wrong man. N’Golo Kante has been granted a more attacking brief under the Italian, but while Willian twice carved out chances for the hyperactive Frenchman, an unconvincing diving header went wide and a shot was blazed over.
It rather summed up Chelsea’s finishing. Olivier Giroud miscued a volley. David Luiz misjudged a header. Eden Hazard attempted a backheel to Alvaro Morata when he ought to have shot. When the ball did break to the Spanish substitute, a couple of minutes after his introduction, Lukasz Fabianski made a point-blank block.
The Pole added a fine injury-time save from Ross Barkley but Chelsea’s perpetual possession – 72 per cent, with Jorginho attempting 180 passes, a new record for a Premier League game – did not produce a goal.
Willian was the brightest of the front three but Giroud was muted. It was the first time since Belgium’s World Cup semi-final defeat to France that Hazard neither scored nor created a goal. That was an indication of how well the valiant veteran Pablo Zabaleta fared.
After a shaky start, when West Ham felt imperilled, he acquitted himself well. He had assistance: Declan Rice, excellent at Everton last week, again patrolled the area in front of the back four with expert assurance.
If Pellegrini was struggling to find his finest formation and best team at the start of the season, the Chilean is closer to alighting on both.
He may have won with his most potent force. Marko Arnautovic was West Ham’s match-winner against Chelsea last season.
A knee injury deprived the Hammers of their leading attacking threat and, perhaps, an extra two points. Michail Antonio was his understudy, offering enthusiasm if not enough accuracy.
Pellegrini’s wingers each fashioned him a chance, Felipe Anderson with a precise pass and Yarmolenko with a buccaneering solo run. Antonio’s first finish was wild, his second drilled to the near post. While Kepa Arrizabalaga made an instinctive save, perhaps the best since he became the world’s costliest goalkeeper, he ought to have aimed for the opposite corner.
Lucas Perez took over from Antonio in attack and ended up facing a man whose Chelsea career had appeared over. Gary Cahill had felt an outcast under the new regime, leading him to muse in public about the possibility of a January move. Yet when Antonio Rudiger went off with what seemed a groin problem, the club captain was summoned.
It represented his first appearance of the Sarri era, but it was not a day for Chelsea to savour the sense of novelty.
“We could have done better in the first half as we moved the ball slowly,” admitted Sarri after the match.
“In the second half, especially in the last 30 minutes, we played well – but we can do better. This was not our best performance. I knew West Ham are a very good team and they were confident after their win at Everton.
“We needed to move the ball faster – otherwise it is very difficult to create opportunities.”
Pellegrini, meanwhile, took heart from a defensive display that prevented a team in form from maintaining their perfect start to the new season.
“It was a good point against the leaders and a team that scored 14 goals in the first five games,” the Chilean said.
“It was a close game, and we had two clear chances and they had one. We played well tactically because we allowed them to have the ball where we wanted but we defended well.
“We allowed Chelsea to have possession where we wanted them to have it. We allowed them to have it on the right side, not on the left where they have Marcos Alonso and Eden Hazard.
“I always want to win and you are never happy if you have clear chances, but you must take them, so I am happy with the performance and if you cant win, then draw.”
It was a good point against the leaders and a team that scored 14 goals in the first five games. We played well tactically MANUEL PELLEGRINI West Ham manager