YARMOLENKO HOWLER HANDS CHELSEA POINT

Hazard and Co are off the boil as they toil at improving Hammers

And then there was one. Liverpool will take the only 100 per cent record in the Premier League to Stamford Bridge next week after Chelsea’s visit to their least favourite away ground produced stalemate and the end of a run of straight victories for Maurizio Sarri.

Try as they might, Chelsea could not turn five into six at a stadium where they have won just once in four visits. Chelsea’s record is a win, a draw and two defeats. West Ham aside, only they and Swansea have lost here twice.

Maybe it was a Europa League hangover, maybe it was the growing improvement of West Ham under Manuel Pellegrini or maybe the inevitable levelling out of early season form. Most likely a combination of all three.

Chelsea will think they did enough to win this game but so too will West Ham. They had the best chance, which Andriy Yarmolenko spurned, and contained Chelsea in a way others have not. Sad to say but the changes to midfield caused by Jack Wilshere’s injury have improved this team, and declan Rice’s presence is the perfect compensation for Mark noble’s aging legs.

This was West Ham without their best player, too. Had Marko Arnautovic been on the field, two of the first-half chances that fell to his replacement Michail Antonio might have been goals. It was Pellegrini’s decision to start without a recognised striker, so he can have no complaints — but in that way at least Chelsea got rather fortunate.

This was a good point for the home side, though, after such a dismal start. A stretch of four defeats with upcoming matches against Everton, Chelsea and Manchester United left many fearing the worst. Instead, following an unexpected win at Goodison Park, a rejuvenated West Ham have taken a hard-fought home point from a team who will consider themselves title contenders.

Yarmolenko was the sponsor’s man of the match, raising the question what might he have won had he not missed the sitter of the match, and mis-controlled in his own penalty area to almost gift Chelsea a goal. Yarmolenko’s biggest howler, the one that spared Chelsea, came with 13 minutes remaining, after substitute Robert Snodgrass battled through gamely on the left. His cross found Yarmolenko unmarked at the far post. There was no better opportunity to decide this one, yet with only goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to beat, the Ukrainian couldn’t get a header on target.

not that Chelsea could have felt too hard done by had it gone in. Though they saw a lot of the ball, particularly in the second half, they rarely turned that supremacy into chances. Indeed, in that period, their finest scoring opportunities came in two phases of the same play, seconds apart.

For the first, Willian found a surprisingly ineffective Eden Hazard, and his backheel was cut out by Issa diop before Alvaro Morata could get there with the goal gaping. From the resulting corner, the ball was recycled by Willian, and Yarmolenko missed his kick. david Luiz got a touch and it fell to Morata, whose shot struck Lukasz Fabianski in the face.

True, Ross Barkley could have won it at the last when he was played in by Hazard and his shot from range was tipped round — but this was disappointing from Chelsea after so much early promise. Worth remembering, perhaps, that Luiz Felipe Scolari started brilliantly, too, before opponents worked out how to cope with it and excellent form dried up.

It would be harsh to judge the famed Sarri-ball the same way, after one draw away against historically awkward opponents but when Chelsea’s best laid plans failed to work, it wasn’t as if they revealed too many others. If the first 45 minutes have passed and Chelsea’s most consistent threat has been n’Golo Kante in the air, it is fair to say the defensive strategy is working.

What West Ham were lacking in strikers they made up for with plenty of resilience through the middle where Chelsea do some of their best work. Jorginho was smothered and so too was Hazard thanks to the defensive nous of Pablo Zabaleta.

Concluding that if it came to a foot race there would only be one winner, Zabaleta elected to deal with Hazard high and early, forcing him into areas that became very congested. Zabaleta’s game intelligence compensating for his aging legs, Hazard grew so frustrated that he resorted to throwing himself to the ground and appealing in vain for a penalty.

Chelsea had plenty of possession, but little cutting edge. By contrast, West Ham spent long periods pinned back but when they did find a way out, forced the best chances of the first half.

THEY came in the space of two minutes, both falling to Antonio who, sadly, is no finisher. When Felipe Anderson broke and threaded the ball through, Antonio shrugged Antonio Rudiger off beautifully but his shot was ugly, wild and panicked, and well wide. The next attempt came closer. The dangerous Yarmolenko broke down the right into Chelsea’s box before releasing Antonio, whose shot was kept out by the legs of Arrizabalaga.

After the game, Sarri talked up the time Jurgen Klopp has enjoyed with Liverpool against his relative inexperience at Chelsea, but if it is time he wanted, he signed for the wrong club. Chelsea managers hit the ground running or they don’t stay Chelsea managers for long. After Liverpool have come to town next week, we will know a lot more about where this title challenge really stands.