Daily Mirror

TITLE GONE TOP-4 GONE WHAT’S LEFT? SWEET FA

Only Cup can salvage Blues’ wreck of a season

- BY JOHN CROSS Chief Football Writer

THE tributes to Ray Wilkins were emotional, poignant and fitting for a Chelsea legend.

West Ham’s fans sang his name as loudly as anyone in Stamford Bridge and they put some flowers with a vintage No.8 shirt on his old seat in the dugout.

But, sadly, Chelsea fell short on the pitch and their season is in serious danger of fading into mediocrity.

They were booed off by their own fans at the final whistle and it now feels like the end-game for manager Antonio Conte, who looks increasing­ly likely to be gone in the summer.

Chelsea are 10 points behind Tottenham in fourth and just three ahead of Arsenal in sixth as their campaign peters out.

Of course they still have the FA Cup to play for but Chelsea fans expect much more. Blues were the better team for much of the match but could not build on Cesar Azpilicuet­a’s first-half opener and ended up paying a heavy price.

West Ham’s on-loan keeper Joe Hart made a string of terrific saves and deserved all the plaudits but Chelsea’s finishing was wasteful, with Alvaro Morata the worst culprit.

Morata twice had the ball in the net but was flagged offside on each occasion. The second time was unforgivab­le – even a Sunday League striker would have looked across the line to make sure he stayed onside.

Ultimately the point was more valuable to West Ham, who are trying to put the threat of relegation behind them as they inch towards safety. Manager David Moyes, pilloried when he took charge, has done a good, solid job amid the soap opera behind the scenes.

What will please Moyes most is the way his team hung in after going behind in the first half, Chelsea’s opener coming in the 36th minute after some really slack defending.

Hart made a terrific block with his legs to deny Willian and the ball went out for a corner. Chelsea worked a short-corner routine and, when Victor Moses eventually put the ball into the middle, Marko Arnautovic got himself in a mess and it presented Azpilicuet­a with the chance to prod the ball home from close range for only his second goal in the Premier League this season.

It was little wonder Moyes called West Ham’s defending “poxy.”

From then on you expected Chelsea to take control, especially with N’Golo Kante bossing midfield and West Ham looking vulnerable.

But the Hammers have a new- found resilience under Moyes and they never gave up.

Morata headed over, Willian went close, and Eden Hazard was lively but West Ham held firm and Hart grew in confidence as he made save after save.

The visitors got their leveller after 73 minutes when Mark Noble hit a high ball into the box.

Gary Cahill got a header all wrong and Arnautovic cleverly played it back to Javier Hernandez, who had come on as sub just three minutes earlier.

The little Mexican striker scored with his first touch, expertly steering the ball into the bottom corner.

Arnautovic looked to have escaped late on only to be stopped by Kante’s heroic tackle and then Hart made two fabulous late saves.

First he tipped over from Marcos Alonso and then pushed Olivier Giroud’s header past a post.

Chelsea, who play Southampto­n in the FA Cup semi-final in two weeks, have won just three Premier League games in 2018. Unless they rediscover some form, things could get even worse.

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 ??  ?? THE BLUES WHO BLEW IT Hazard, Giroud and Pedro show their frustratio­n after failing to find a winner WE WON’T FORGET RAY Fans pay their respects to legend Wilkins, while (below) Azpilicuet­a and Hernandez hit the target WE DID IT Hart and Evra celebrate...
THE BLUES WHO BLEW IT Hazard, Giroud and Pedro show their frustratio­n after failing to find a winner WE WON’T FORGET RAY Fans pay their respects to legend Wilkins, while (below) Azpilicuet­a and Hernandez hit the target WE DID IT Hart and Evra celebrate...

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