UNSTOPPABLE
Hazard stunner sends Chelsea 10 points clear
EdEn Hazard helped Chelsea ease 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League with 11 games remaining and urged his team-mates to wrap up the title as quickly as possible.
Goals by Hazard and diego Costa fired antonio Conte’s team into a two-goal lead at West Ham before Manuel Lanzini pulled one back in stoppage time. ‘We are at the top and we want to stay at the top,’ said Hazard. ‘We will try to win the title as soon as possible. The target is to win the title. That is enough.’
Chelsea have amassed 66 points from 27 games and club legend Frank Lampard, on Sky Sports,
Encouraged, no doubt, by the Mayor of London’s decision to approve plans for a new stadium at Stamford Bridge, the chelsea supporters went for their rivals where it hurt.
no fighting this time. Just one cutting taunt. ‘You’re not West Ham any more’ they sang from the comfort of a 1-0 lead.
chelsea are proud to be staying at home. In Fulham. Where they have always been. When does logic come into it?
West Ham have moved the short distance from upton Park to Stratford and it is not perfect by any means but they are still West Ham, prone to the usual fallibilities — as the fingernails of Slaven Bilic will testify.
They beat chelsea in the eFL cup and have summoned a solid recovery after flirting with relegation.
The manager has been forced to handle the desertion of his best-player dimitri Payet after a mid-season sulk. diafra Sakho has been absent with injuries and andy carroll has combined his usual catalogue of fitness concerns with the terrifying experience of an armed robbery.
If this isn’t a season from the annals of West Ham history, then what is it?
They have been defensively awful at times, leaking a dozen goals in three games against Manchester city and were simply awful as they conceded five against arsenal.
They have been linked with exciting and ambitious transfers and failed to secure the deals and they have suffered poor decisions.
Bilic ended the previous home game, against West Bromwich albion, by throwing a pitch- side effects microphone around in disgust as his side conceded a late equaliser.
When they went for a warmweather break in dubai it rained. come on, this is classic West Ham, isn’t it?
upon their return, they trotted off to the premiere of Iron Men, described by co-chairman david gold as ‘the amazing film about our unforgettable journey from the Boleyn ground to London Stadium’.
Last night, the former olympic venue illustrated how its sheer size can make it idiot-proof, as a wouldbe pitch invader leapt over the advertising boards and made a beeline for the chelsea players as they celebrated eden Hazard’s opener.
He was running out of steam by the time he made it to the cluster of players and david Luiz was able to push his exhausted frame into the arms of the stewards.
carroll was starting for the first time in a month and during his latest injury absence he has been linked with a transfer to china. Perhaps someone saw a clip of the overhead kick he scored against crystal Palace.
There is rarely a dull moment but there were no acrobatics against chelsea. Within minutes of his return carroll was on the turf, wiping blood from his face, having planted his face into the head of Victor Moses.
He was taped up and able to continue but West Ham missed the work-rate and willingness of Michail antonio.
They went two behind to a goal scored from a corner before they summoned something amounting to pressure on the chelsea goal and pulling a goal back far too late.
up went another chorus from the away fans, giddy as they stretched clear once again at the top of the Premier League.