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Chelsea beat West Ham United 1-0 in a crucial Premier League encounter at the London Stadium yesterday. Timo Werner scored the only goal of the match in the 43rd minute.
The win has allowed Chelsea to solidify their hold over the 4th place in the league table. They have 58 points from 33 matches and are 3 clear of 5th-placed West Ham United.
The match was a close encounter and Chelsea will be happy with three points against West Ham. Let's take a look at the 3 reasons behind Chelsea’s win yesterday:
1. Werner scored the only goal of the match:
Werner was signed by Chelsea last summer and the centre-forward showed his caliber by scoring the solitary goal of the match. Werner has now scored 11 goals for Chelsea in 44 matches.
The 25-year old German striker demonstrated his finishing instincts by being in the right place at the right time.
Werner had a good match and could have scored more. However, he will be happy with the goal he scored as it helped Chelsea win all 3 points.
2. Chelsea’s defense, led by Thiago Silva, held firm:
Thiago Silva has been a very useful addition to the Chelsea defense this season. He put up yet another commanding display while playing as a sweeper at the heart of Chelsea’s 3-man defense. He made a number of vital interceptions to keep West Ham at bay.
The 36-year old Brazilian centre-back also started a few moves from the back by playing long balls to the Chelsea forwards. His distribution, along with his presence in the defensive third, greatly stabilized the spine of the Blues team.
Andreas Christensen played his part as well and stopped the marauding runs of Ryan Fredericks on quite a few occasions. Antonio Rudiger was also solid as Chelsea's defense held firm for the entirety of the match.
3. The red card in the second half stifled West Ham:
West Ham started the second half in a bright manner, and enjoyed around 60% ball-possession during the first 15 minutes of it. Jesse Lingard was a constant threat and played some nice one-touch passes to his teammates to build attacks for the Hammers.
However, West Ham defender Fabian Balbuena was shown a red card as he stomped on Chilwell while clearing the ball and the home side had to play the last 15 minutes of the match with 10 men.
The incident allowed Chelsea to take control of the match and guarantee all three points on the night.
