West Ham United 1-0 Chelsea : 5 Talking Points

#3 Marko Arnautovic and Mikhail Antonio unsettle Chelsea in the second half

Antonio was excellent on the break

As expected, Chelsea came out all guns blazing in the second half, withdrawing Tiemoue Bakayoko for an attacking option in Pedro. West Ham were happy to sit back and absorb all the pressure in a desperate measure to hang on to their slender lead.

What gave Chelsea the nerves, however, was West Ham’s decision to leave two men – Arnautovic and Antonio up front should the possibility of a counter-attack present itself. It did, not just once or twice, but on a plethora of occasions.

While it was Antonio who used his pace and power to do the ball-retrieving and cover the yards, Arnautovic played a brilliant supporting role as the target man for Antonio to find.

Most teams in West Ham’s situation would deploy just the one target man, but David Moyes deserves immense credit for risking one man in defence and putting the pair up the pitch to keep Chelsea’s defence on their toes.

The plan nearly worked with Antonio running into space and forcing Chelsea to track back on a number of instances. But for a lack of decision-making, West Ham could have finished Chelsea off earlier than the final whistle.