VAR SCREEN DENIES HAMMERS

WEST HAM boss David Moyes looked on in anger and disbelief after his side were denied a late equaliser by a VAR shocker.

When Maxwel Cornet fired into the roof of the net in the 89th minute, it seemed the visitors had earned a share of the spoils – the least they deserved at Stamford Bridge.

But while Hammers players celebrated in front of the ecstatic away end, VAR officials at Stockley Park ordered referee Andrew Madley to review the goal.

In the build-up, Jarrod Bowen had clipped Edouard Mendy’s chest slightly as the Blues keeper fumbled into the path of Cornet, who moments earlier had hit the post. There was nothing clear and obvious about it being a foul, yet Madley and his video assistants saw it differently.

All of which meant Chelsea’s late fightback, through goals from substitutes Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz after falling behind to Michail Antonio’s second-half opener, survived.

And three points against all the odds also ensured the pressure on Blues boss Thomas Tuchel does not get any deeper – for now.

Make no mistake, with the new Chelsea regime spending a record-breaking £271.1million in the recent window, the heat on the German is already high.

The Hammers, then, were not the side Tuchel’s Blues wanted in the neighbourhood yesterday.

Their campaign was up and running with four points from the previous two games, including a midweek draw to highfliers Tottenham.

Tuchel’s increasingly erratic behaviour on the touchline, resulting in fines and suspended suspensions, only enhanced the idea he is