ED MASTER’S TOP CLASS Hazard hands out finishing lesson
EDEN HAZARD was Treble chasing Chelsea’s head boy last night as the Blues set out to maintain their stranglehold at the top.
The Belgium midfielder is better known for his super skills on the deck.
But in the 22nd minute he stooped to conquer at Upton Park, when he nodded Chelsea ahead.
Boss Jose Mourinho kept faith with nine of the players who won him the Capital One Cup on Sunday, with a 2-0 defeat of Tottenham.
Thibaut Courtois came in for keeper Petr Cech and Oscar for Willian, with centre-back Kurt Zouma retaining his role as a holding midfielder.
To be fair to the Hammers, they threatened more than Spurs did at Wembley and if Diafra Sakho had been in sharper form might not have gone into the break behind.
Early on, after a neat move in the box involving Mark Noble and Kevin Nolan, Sakho raced in on goal but Courtois was sharply off his line to block the striker.
Sakho had an even better chance in the 20th minute when if he had used his left foot he might have connected in front of goal as Cheikhou Kouyate’s punted pass came across – but he stuck out his right and missed.
Next he let a Carl Jenkinson driven cross run under his feet and that was to prove costly.
Almost immediately Chelsea scored the simplest of goals. Hazard stroked the ball to Fabregas, who fed it to Ramires on the right.
Hazard made a run into run into the box, found himself free and was able to duck down and nod home Ramires’ cross from close range after just appearing to stay onside.
In the seventh minute Chelsea had gone close from a similar position when Diego Costa shot over after Oscar picked him out, also from the right.
Costa also might have done better in the 35th minute when put clear by Hazard but, as he shaped to shoot, Carl Jenkinson slid in to tackle.
Sakho then had a free header from a Jenkinson cross a minute later but sent it into the ground and Courtois pawed the ball away.
The Hammers’ recent run of three defeats and three draws in six games looked to have dented their confidence.
But Sakho looked a little sharper in the 51st minute, spinning to drive a right-foot shot into the side-netting.
Two minutes later an Aaron Cresswell ball into the box caused confusion and eventually broke to Sakho but he was denied by Courtois.
Chelsea were unlucky in the 56th minute when Hazard sent Ramires clear, he cut back cleverly onto his left foot and sent a low, shot onto the bottom of Adrian’s right post but the ball bounced back into the keeper’s arms. WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Adrian; Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell; Kayoute, Nolan; Downing, Nolan, Valencia; Sakho. Subs: Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Nene, O’Brien, Collins, Demel, Song. CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Zouma, Fabregas; Oscar, Ramires, Hazard; Costa. Subs: Cech, Luis, Drogba, Remy, Willian, Cuadrado, Loftus-Cheek. Referee: Andre Mariner.