Chelsea’s incredible start to the season came to a halt on Sunday as the Blues were held to 0:0 draw by West Ham United. It was a surprising result for many reasons, especially given West Ham’s struggles and more importantly, Chelsea’s splendid form till now.
Nevertheless, the Blues were shockingly dismal in attack and struggled to break down a disciplined West Ham defence. The Hammers stood true to their gameplan and deservedly clinched a point at the end while the visitors failed to find any real attacking spark.
Here are three reasons why Chelsea failed to continue their winning momentum against an organized West Ham United side.
Lack of attacking ideas
As I iterated earlier, Chelsea lacked the necessary attacking thrust to make any real difference in the West Ham half. The likes of Eden Hazard and Willian were poor by their own standards and looked out of touch for the most part of the game, which was coupled with Olivier Giroud’s ineffectiveness as the number nine.
And even though he was subbed off later in the second half, his eventual replacement Alvaro Morata also failed to impose his authority inside the box.
The lack of creativity was the main issue as Mateo Kovacic’s influence faded in the second half while the dangerous attacking duo of Willian and Hazard were, more or less, isolated out wide.
Fatigue
Fatigue was the obvious issue for Chelsea in this encounter. After all, the Blues were coming on the back of a strenuous and narrow 1:0 win over Greek side PAOK. And the matter was compounded due to a delayed return. As a result, a host of their players looked out of touch and struggled to find any sort of rhythm.
Marcos Alonso, in particular, was the main victim of fatigue against West Ham. The Spaniard had to play the whole ninety minutes against PAOK due to Emerson’s absence. As a result of which, the former Fiorentina starlet struggled to maintain solidity on the left flank, gifting the likes of Pablo Zabaleta and Andriy Yarmolenko loads of space out wide.
N’Golo Kante also lacked vigour despite his tremendous stamina and physical prowess as the Blues were held by a clever West Ham United side.
West Ham’s organized gameplay and clever use of tactics
While fatigue and lack of attacking impetus played a key role in Chelsea’s stuttering display, we also have to give credit to West Ham United for taking full advantage of these opportunities to earn valuable points against the former league leaders.
Head coach Manuel Pellegrini’s side remained content on sitting deep, at first but after figuring out Chelsea’s lack of vigour, the Chilean mastermind instructed his boys to be more adventurous as they notably made a lot of quick counter-attacks. Those attacks certainly caused trouble to Chelsea’s fullbacks, especially Marcos Alonso.
Defensively, the Hammers were very organized too, with midfielder Declan Rice producing an excellent display to screen the four-man backline despite the absence of star player Jack Wilshere. Having picked up four points in the last two matches, Pellegrini now will hope that his side maintains their good form in the coming fixtures.
