That’s all from me tonight. Thanks for reading and emailing. I’ll leave you with Dominic Fifield’s match report.
Eden Hazard speaks! “I think we played well. The game was not so easy because West Ham is a great team. They created problems but in the end we did everything. We scored two great goals. The first goal? It is something special. I take the ball and when I can go forward I try to go forward. When I am in the box it is hard for a defender to challenge me because if they touch me it might be a penalty. I think I am a bit lucky when I shot, but it is a good goal. When I saw the ball in the net I was happy. I am small, so for me it is good. When I play against big guys it is very hard for them to change direction.”
Then Hazard is asked about West Ham fans singing that he’s off to Real Madrid in the summer. “They are wrong,” he laughs. “I am focused with Chelsea till the end of the season. We still have top four and Europa League. There is still a lot to do and then we will see.”
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Here’s Dominic Fifield’s match report from Stamford Bridge.
If these are the last few weeks of Eden Hazard in the Premier League, he looks determined to make them as memorable as possible. The Chelsea winger continues to be linked with Real Madrid, but he remains the star in Maurizio Sarri’s side and is playing well enough to secure a top-four spot for Chelsea, who will be dangerous when they visit Liverpool on Sunday.
Chelsea move up to third with five games left thanks to a virtuoso display from Eden Hazard. The Belgian scored a superb goal in the first half and killed the game in the final minute with his second of the night. It’s a deserved win for Chelsea, their third on the bounce, and a massive boost for them in their quest to qualify for the Champions League. West Ham, meanwhile, stay in 11th place after another away defeat. They’ve lost six of their last seven away games. Not great. They were awful in the second half and can’t really have any complaints despite improving in the second half.
Full-time: Chelsea 2-0 West Ham
Peep! Peep! Peep! It’s all over.
90 min+2: The away end is emptying out. The truth is West Ham haven’t been anywhere near good enough this evening.
90 min+1: There will be three added minutes.
Chelsea deserve this. West Ham fail to clear their lines properly and the ball lands to Barkley 30 yards from goal. The fans urge him to shoot but instead he looks up and sweeps a pass towards Hazard, unmarked and onside in the West Ham area. He takes a touch and lashes a low shot across Fabianski with his right foot.
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GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 West Ham (Hazard, 90 min)
A fitting end. The best player on the pitch seals the points for Chelsea.
89 min: Pedro slides a ball across from the right but Giroud can’t apply the final touch in the six-yard box. Chelsea have had so many chances. Somehow West Ham are still alive.
86 min: Barkley finds space on the edge of the area and slips a ball through to Giroud, whose shot’s turned over by the advancing Fabianski.
85 min: Pedro replaces the sprightly Callum Hudson-Odoi.
84 min: Kepa is booked for taking too long over the goal-kick.
83 min: West Ham take the corner short and move it to Snodgrass, who whips a dangerous cross to the far post. The unmarked Arnautovic looks certain to score, only for his header to hit Emerson and drop just past the post! Some West Ham fans thought it was in. Alas. There’s another chance from the resulting corner when a loose ball drops to Balbuena, who volleys over.
82 min: Azpilicueta receives a booking for chopping Anderson down on the left.
81 min: Azpilicueta blasts wide from a tight angle. Chelsea have settled things down in the last few minutes. West Ham haven’t threatened for a while.
79 min: Hazard swivels to beat Obiang before finding Hudson-Odoi on the right. The winger’s low ball is inviting but it’s just too far in front of the sliding Barkley at the far post.
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78 min: Felipe Anderson is blinking furiously after being caught by a stray arm from David Luiz. He appears to have a problem with his vision.
77 min: Apparently Samir Nasri, one of West Ham’s substitutes, hasn’t been on the bench since half-time. The likelihood is he’s tweaked something.
76 min: Chelsea make their second change, Olivier Giroud replacing Gonzalo Higuain, who had a mixed game.
75 min: David Luiz wallops it into the wall. Corner. Nothing happens.
74 min: Hazard wins a free-kick 30 yards out. David Luiz fancies it.
70 min: West Ham make their second change, Pedro Obiang replacing Mark Noble. Chelsea respond by replacing Ruben Loftus-Cheek with Ross Barkley, a decision that’s greeted by a few boos from the home fans. Oh Maurizio!
68 min: It’s amazing that Pellegrini thought it was a good idea to have Hernandez up front on his own in the first half. The Mexican has no presence at all and wasn’t able to defend from the front. Look at the difference in West Ham now Arnautovic is there. Credit to Pellegrini for making the change, but it doesn’t reflect well on him that he got his starting 11 wrong.
66 min: This is some game now. Chelsea counter from a West Ham corner and Hazard momentarily only as Fredericks isolated, only for claret and blue shirts to race back and crowd the Belgian out. West Ham respond with a break of their own and Anderson, increasingly lively, finds Lanzini on the edge of the area. The Argentinian has Arnautovic free to his right, but he tries to shoot and is frustrated by a block from Rudiger. Arnautovic isn’t happy at being ignored.
64 min: So off they go in search off that second. Loftus-Cheek slips a pass through, but Hazard and Hudson-Odoi, darting inside from their respective flanks, get in each other’s way and the ball ends up in Fabianski’s grasp. The next goal could go either way.
63 min: This is much better from West Ham. Anderson sends another long ball towards Arnautovic. It’s headed away by Rudiger, but only as far as Cresswell, who lashes a fierce drive inches wide from the edge of the area. Kepa wouldn’t have saved that. The mood inside Stamford Bridge is changing a bit. Chelsea really look like they could do with a second now.
61 min: Hazard is down after taking a ball in the privates. It’s one way of stopping him, I suppose.
59 min: There’s a suggestion West Ham might have had a penalty for a challenge by Azpilicueta on Snodgrass in the 54th minute. Azpilicueta cleaned out Snodgrass after the Scot had sent the ball into the middle from the left of the Chelsea area. It was similar to Kurt Zouma’s challenge on Alexandre Lacazette yesterday.
57 min: Loftus-Cheek, becoming more of an influence, shoots wide from 20 yards. Fabianski wasn’t worried.
56 min: Cresswell loses out to Azpilicueta on the right, leaving West Ham in trouble. The ball comes to Higuain, who prods a clever pass through to Loftus-Cheek. He’s through on goal but he loses his footing as he shoots, partly because of late pressure from Fredericks, and digs the ball straight at Fabianski. This is opening up now. West Ham have perked up a bit. They counter and Anderson, cutting in from the left, tries to bend one into the far corner from 20 yards. Kepa makes the save.
54 min: West Ham have an attack! Felipe Anderson, who’s been mightily ineffective, finally locates some effective and makes some use of it by lifting a lovely pass over the top to Arnautovic, who’s more of a threat in a central position. Arnautovic waits for support and when it arrives he rolls a pass back to Lanzini, who sees his sidefooter palmed to safety by Kepa! Snodgrass collects on the left byline and digs a cross to the far post, where Arnautovic wins a corner. It comes to nothing. But that’s a warning for Chelsea, who need to take their chances up the other end.
53 min: Chelsea play out from the back, West Ham failing to exert enough pressure on the ball, and Emerson ends up winning a corner on the left. But Hazard’s delivery is easily claimed by Fabianski.
51 min: West Ham are going to have an attack at some point, right?
48 min: Loftus-Cheek, who’s been fairly quiet so far, dashes through the middle rather impressively. He moves it on to Hazard, who twists and turns before shooting inches wide of the far post from the left. Chelsea just need that second goal. They don’t want to let West Ham hang in there. As bad as the visitors have been, they do have the players to create something and take a chance.
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46 min: Chelsea get the second half underway. West Ham have made a change, Robert Snodgrass replacing the wretched Javier Hernandez, a substitution that doubles as a clear admission by Manuel Pellegrini that he got his tactics wrong again.
On Sky, Gary Neville thinks Marko Arnautovic’s challenge on Eden Hazard was definitely a penalty. Looking at it again, I agree with Neville. It was a clumsy barge on Hazard from Arnautovic.
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 West Ham
Chelsea lead thanks to a moment of individual brilliance from Eden Hazard. They’ve impressed and should be further ahead. West Ham have been nonsense and will be in danger of a thrashing if they don’t improve in the second half. See you in 15 minutes.
45 min: There will be one added minute.
43 min: Hudson-Odoi teases Cresswell before playing a pass back to Kante, who clips a clever ball into the six-yard box. Nobody’s marking Higuain. Why bother? He’s only one of the best strikers in Europe. But he isn’t good enough to take this chance. Instead of heading home, he controls on his chest and then sees his goalbound volley deflected wide by Fredericks. Chelsea should have put this to bed by now.
41 min: Hazard, who’s on one tonight, spins and sends Hudson-Odoi away with a Kane-esque pass. The winger runs at Ogbonna, who’s having a shocker, and forces Fabianski to tip over with a scorching drive. Fabianski flaps from the resulting corner, but Rudiger can’t turn the loose ball in, allowing West Ham’s goalkeeper to gather at the second attempt. West Ham will be delighted if they’re only one down at the break. They’ve been a joke since going behind. In fact, they’ve been pretty irrelevant throughout.
39 min: The more I see that Hazard goal, the more I cringe at that West Ham defending. Ogbonna looked like he was dipping his toe in a hot bath.
37 min: Lanzini’s corner is headed away. Cresswell collects on the left and sends the ball back into the area. Again it’s headed away. It drops to Anderson, who sees his shot blocked. Cresswell crosses again. This time it’s cleared and falls to Kante, who sends Hudson-Odoi away on the counter. The youngster finds Higuain, who gives possession away.
36 min: West Ham help themselves to a rare sortie, Noble finding Fredericks, who wins a corner off Emerson on the right.
35 min: Hazard torments West Ham again, making Arnautovic look very silly indeed on the left. His cross finds Hudson Odoi at the far post, but the winger’s shot is blocked by Cresswell. A second Chelsea goal is surely on the way.
33 min: Hudson-Odoi slips through on the right but his cross is claimed by Fabianski. It’s all Chelsea. West Ham are offering nothing.
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29 min: Chelsea continue to press, attacking down the right this time, a low cross from Hudson-Odoi almost leading to an opening. West Ham clear, but Hazard comes straight back at them, scooting through again on the left. He looks to have burrowed through but Arnautovic leans in to stop him. Hazard goes down but Chris Kavanagh waves away his appeals for a penalty.
28 min: Not that I want to search for the negatives, but Manuel Pellegrini might not be impressed with the way Eden Hazard was able to waltz through the middle of West Ham. He’ll be unimpressed with slack pressure from Mark Noble and the inability of his central defenders to challenge Hazard.
26 min: Chelsea fancy this now! Hazard, who’ll probably be even more of a target for Real Madrid now, lifts a cracking ball over the top to Higuain. The striker takes a touch and although the angle’s against the striker, he manages to get a shot away from the left. It beats Fabianski but crashes against the near post and bounces to safety. West Ham, clinging on, survive.
This is stupendous from Eden Hazard! He hadn’t done much, but this is absurd. He picks up possession 35 yards from goal and not much seems to be on. So he just decides to go it alone. He dances between Declan Rice and Mark Noble, who isn’t close enough to make a challenge, and West Ham aren’t quick enough to react. Brilliant footwork sees Hazard zigzag between Balbuena and Ogbonna on the edge of the area and that leaves him one-on-one with Fabianski. The question now is if he can finish - and he answers it emphatically swiping a low left-footed finish to Fabianski’s left just as Fredericks storms in too late with a desperate tackle. That is a stunning goal, one of the best this season.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 West Ham (Hazard, 24 min)
Oh my, what a goal!
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21 min: Chelsea probe down the right. Azpilicueta slips a pass in to Kante, who returns the favour with a clever flick back to the Spaniard. All of a sudden West Ham are in bother. Azpilicueta storms into the area and seems to have space to shoot or find a team-mate. But he’s slightly off balance, allowing Balbuena to come across and make a last-ditch challenge at the expense of a corner, which comes to nothing.
20 min: West Ham have had 58% possession in the last 10 minutes. Take that, Sarriball!
19 min: David Luiz lives.
18 min: David Luiz is down after bumping heads with Antonio Rudiger.
16 min: After a brief lull Chelsea quicken the pace. Kante finds space on the edge of the West Ham area, skips round Ogbonna and shoots over with his left foot. It remains a tight game but the main threat is coming from Chelsea. And we haven’t seen much from Hazard yet.
12 min: Emerson curls the free-kick harmlessly wide, drawing the obligatory jeers from the West Ham fans.
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11 min: Hazard plays a sharp one-two with Higuain on the right and bursts beyond West Ham’s creaking back four. Ogbonna, panicky and exposed, hauls the surging Belgian down 25 yards out. He’s booked - Balbuena was covering. But that was too easy for Chelsea, who have a free-kick in a dangerous position.
9 min: West Ham appear to have lined up with Arnautovic on the right and Hernandez on his own up front. They’re working hard out of possession and could prove hard to break down for Chelsea, who haven’t exactly flourished when confronted by deep and organised defences this season.
8 min: This is a midfield scrap at the moment, neither side’s creators able to find any room in telling areas. Declan Rice tries to start a West Ham counter on the right, but he’s quickly crowded out by his England team-mate, Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
5 min: Hudson-Odoi does his work at the other end, making sure Cresswell can’t do anything down the left flank for West Ham. The attack ends in a Chelsea goal-kick. It’s been a low-key start.
2 min: Hudson-Odoi has his first look down the left. He produces a neat piece of skill, but he runs out of room and West Ham make off with the ball. They’ll have to make sure not give the electrifying youngster any room to isolate Cresswell.
Peep! West Ham, in claret and blue, get the game underway. They’re kicking from left to right in the first half. There’s a rare old atmosphere inside Stamford Bridge, both sets of fans making plenty of noise. There’s no love lost between those two.
Here come the teams! Strike up The Liquidator! It’s almost time for kick-off.
Manuel Pellegrini speaks! “We have to play with personality. We are not coming here to wait for the result. If we draw 0-0 we must be aggressive against big players. We must play with the ball also.”
Maurizio Sarri speaks! “Callum and Loftus-Cheek are in a very good physical condition and a very good mental condition. They are fresh. I decided to put them in the starting 11. Then they have to rest in the other two. The table is not clear at the moment because some games are with 32 matches and others with 33 and others with 31. We only have to try to take these three points.”
West Ham have been pretty useless in 2019. They’ve been shaky at the back - they even conceded three to Huddersfield last month - and have lacked a cutting edge up front. Get this: they’ve only scored six goals from open play since the turn of the year. That’s a poor return for a Manuel Pellegrini side. But the Marko Arnautovic saga clearly had an unsettling effect and the problem for Pellegrini is that he doesn’t have many options behind Arnautovic. Javier Hernandez lacks a physical presence, Lucas Perez has been underwhelming and as for Andy Carroll, well, he’s out for the season and likely to be shown the door at the end of the season. They spent £100m last summer, so a bottom-half finish would be a huge disappointment.
Chelsea make two changes from the team that beat Brighton 3-0 last Wednesday. Antonio Rudiger replaces Andreas Christensen in central defence and Gonzalo Higuain replaces Olivier Giroud up front, but Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both keep their starting spots.
West Ham shake things up after last week’s dismal showing against Everton. Ryan Fredericks replaces Pablo Zabaleta at right-back, Fabian Balbuena replaces the struggling Issa Diop in central defence, Mark Noble replaces Pedro Obiang, Felipe Anderson replaces Robert Snodgrass and Javier Hernandez, in for Lucas Perez, partners Marko Arnautovic up front.
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Team news
Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Emerson; Jorginho, Kante, Loftus-Cheek; Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard. Subs: Caballero, Christensen, Kovacic, Barkley, Willian, Pedro, Giroud.
West Ham: Fabianski; Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Lanzini, Rice, Noble, Anderson; Hernandez, Arnautovic. Subs: Adrian, Diop, Masuaku, Obiang, Snodgrass, Perez, Nasri.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh.
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Pre-match reading
Hello. Funny old season Chelsea are having. Maurizio Sarri has seemed to be on the verge of the sack since the middle of January, they’ve had the Kepa Arrizabalaga farce at Wembley and the fans have been mutinous for months. They’re nowhere near the title race, they’ve been walloped by Arsenal, Bournemouth, Manchester City, and Eden Hazard looks increasingly likely to join Real Madrid at the end of the season - when, unless they win their appeal, they’ll be serving a transfer ban. Sixteen years after the arrival of Roman Abramovich ushered in an era of unprecedented era of success at Chelsea, these are uncertain times at Stamford Bridge.
But it’s not all bad. After all Chelsea could yet end the season with a trophy - they really should win their Europa League quarter-final against Slavia Prague - and are still in the hunt for a place in the top four. Sarri remains under intense scrutiny, but he’s showing just about enough to stay in the job. There’s no sign of the players downing tools on him at the moment, for all that some performances have left much to be desired, and Chelsea will move third if they win this London derby against West Ham.
Chelsea, who are on the hunt for a third consecutive victory, should be up for this one against opponents who have mostly been in rotten form since the turn of the year. West Ham were wretched against Everton at the London Stadium last week and they’ve been no better on the road, picking up one point and scoring one goal in their last six away games. If anyone should be under pressure, perhaps it’s Manuel Pellegrini, who is in danger of ending his first season at West Ham in the bottom half. Pellegrini’s side have toiled since the Marko Arnautovic saga disrupted their momentum in January and another defeat would do nothing for their hopes of nabbing seventh place. Granted, this is probably a good time to play Chelsea given that Sarri’s men head to Prague on Thursday. But if West Ham play like they did against Everton, this could be a drubbing.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
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