EPL

Chelsea 2 West Ham 2: Fabregas double denies visitors top-four spot

Cesc Fabregas scored a dramatic penalty with one minute remaining as Chelsea fought back twice to draw 2-2 with West Ham at Stamford Bridge, denying the visitors the chance to move into the Premier League’s top four.

Manuel Lanzini’s magnificent strike had West Ham in front, but Fabregas scored with a free-kick just before half-time to level matters.

cesc-fabregas

Slaven Bilic introduced Carroll and he converted Dimitri Payet’s pass after 61 minutes to seemingly seal victory, but Fabregas intervened with a controversial late spot-kick that was awarded for Michail Antonio’s challenge on Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

A win would have put West Ham fourth in the table ahead of the meeting between their two closest challengers for a Champions League spot – Manchester City and Manchester United – on Sunday.

Instead, they stay fifth and miss the chance to defeat Chelsea for the first time in 10 attempts at Stamford Bridge.

Fabregas’ late strike ensures Guus Hiddink’s men avoid what would have been a first defeat in 14 Premier League matches since Jose Mourinho’s sacking last December after a 10-day spell that had also seen them crash out of the FA Cup and Champions League.

Loic Remy was handed just his second league start of the season in place of the suspended Diego Costa – with captain John Terry and Oscar also coming into the team – and the forward forced Adrian to get down and save with his legs from a tight angle early on.

But it was the visitors who opened the scoring in stunning fashion after 17 minutes when persistence from Diafra Sakho – one of the visitors’ three changes – and Payet opened up space for Lanzini outside the area.

The Argentine did the rest, curling a magnificent strike past the despairing dive of Thibaut Courtois for his sixth goal of the season.

West Ham almost made it two when Sakho’s pass was brilliantly flicked on by Payet, but Aaron Cresswell’s tame finish was deflected wide by Branislav Ivanovic’s block as a key chance went begging.

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Articles

Back to top button
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x