West Ham go through, despite a furious late rally from Chelsea. The hosts just about deserved it: they were the better side for most of the game, and it was only really when Costa and Hazard were introduced that Chelsea perked up. The visitors played OK, but left themselves too much to do. West Ham go through to the last eight, and who knows: maybe a first League Cup title isn’t that far away.
Thanks for reading. Goodnight.
Updated
Full-time: West Ham 2-1 Chelsea
That’s it! There was barely time for West Ham to kick off.
GOAL! West Ham 2-1 Chelsea (Cahill 90+4)
Chelsea pull one back! But it’s surely too late. We’re almost at full time.
Updated
90 min+3 Terry heads down for Pedro, but Feghouli is in bravely to win it.
90 min +2 Payet to wrap it up … but Begovic turns it over! Payet should have scored, really.
90 min +1 And it looks like there’s trouble behind Randolph’s goal. Stewards and police having to get involved.
Updated
90 min Costa goes down on the edge of the box, but there’s no whistle. Four minutes of stoppage time.
89 min Fair play to Chelsea: they’ve really pushed West Ham back in this last 10 minutes. But it looks as though time’s run out.
88 min Hazard went through, cut back, and Reid hung out a leg, and Hazard went over – but there wasn’t any contact, and Craig Pawson said no penalty.
87 min Terry’s header … but it’s wide of the post. He got free, but couldn’t get the direction. Randolph might have been struggling if it were on target, though.
86 min Still time for Chelsea. Almost everyone is in West Ham’s half. Costa is fouled, and Chelsea have a free kick 45 yards from goal.
85 min That was a great run from Costa, but he just lifted it the wrong side of the post as Randolph came out. I can’t quite believe he missed the target.
84 min Zaza is on for Antonio, by the way. But Chelsea come again, and Hazards slips it through for Diego Costa … who puts it wide! Oh, what a chance!
83 min There’s definitely another goal in this. Kouyaté is down momentarily, but he’ll be OK to continue.
82 min Ayew heads wide! That perhaps should have been three. Wonderful cross from Payet, but Ayew just couldn’t crane his neck to direct it at goal.
Updated
81 min Randolph gets a palm to it when Pedro looked ready to score! Then Hazard hits one against the angle of post of bar! Really unlucky for Hazard. Chelsea pressing hard.
80 min Serious Chelsea pressure here. But time is on West Ham’s side.
Updated
79 min David Luiz nearly gets on to it, but Obiang is there to mop up. Another corner, and Hazard can’t sort his feet out on the edge of the box.
78 min Good cross from Costa, and Reid heads behind for a corner.
77 min Andre Ayew, who hasn’t played since the opening day, replaces Manuel Lanzini.
Updated
76 min Winston Reid is booked for a foul on Costa, although there didn’t seem to be too much contact. David Luiz goes for goal from 40 yards, but it’s straight into the wall.
Updated
74 min Big chance for Chelsea, and Willian couldn’t take it! Diego Costa timed his run perfectly, brought down a long ball from David Luiz, fed Willian, who had time and space … but the Brazilian got the shot all wrong. Chelsea’s best chance of the evening.
72 min Costa can’t stop it running out for a goal kick, and the Hammers fans are lapping it up. The crowd tonight, incidentally, is 45, 957.
71 min West Ham still working hard to deny Chelsea the space they need. Feghouli went in clumsily on Pedro just inside the box, but no whistle, and it’s safely through for a West Ham goal kick.
69 min Twenty minutes left for Chelsea. All their big attacking stars are on. There’s still hope.
68 min Oh, close from Oscar! Hazard fizzed a corner in at pace, and Oscar flicked it goalwards, but it was just the wrong side of the post. Unlucky.
67 min Begovic catches Payet’s corner from underneath the bar.
65 min And Chelsea make their final change: Pedro is on, Ola Aina is off.
64 min Payet goes through on the left, but Cahill comes across to block. Edmilson Fernandes is replaced by Sofiane Feghouli.
63 min Mark Noble is booked for clattering Hazard. Welcome to Stratford, Eden.
62 min Oscar is called for a careless offside. Antonio Conte can’t wait any longer: Eden Hazard is on for Nathaniel Chalobah.
Updated
59 min Antonio has been an extremely willing runner for West Ham tonight, but this time David Luiz does enough to win it from him.
Updated
57 min Obiang escapes a booking for dragging back Willian. From the free kick, David Luiz dinks it in, but Diego Costa can’t reach it, and home fans love it.
56 min Ola Aina hits one, but it’s well wide. Just on that Chelsea penalty claim, it definitely hit Kouyaté on the hand, but it did come at him from extremely close range. We’ve seen them given, etc.
54 min Diego Costa is on for Michy Batshuayi.
53 min Payet finds Antonio, who streaks clear but then finds himself crowded out. Noble hits one from 22 yards, but it’s just wide.
Updated
52 min Penalty to Chelsea? Craig Pawson says no. Did it strike a West Ham hand?
51 min Begovic catches cleanly.
50 min Chelsea try to respond immediately, but West Ham do enough to funnel it clear. Could Begovic have done better on the goal? Fernandes hit it accurately, but without a great deal of pace, and Begovic seemed a little slow to go down. Antonio’s shot is deflected behind for a corner.
49 min What a sequence. Payet was denied initially by Begovic, but Chelsea just couldn’t clear, and it came out to Fernandes on the right side. He checked inside Aina, and hit a left-foot shot that beat Begovic and found the corner. What a start to the second half!
Updated
GOAL! West Ham 2-0 Chelsea (Fernandes 48)
Two-nil West Ham!
47 min There was some talk at half-time about the Payet penalty shout in the first half: he did appear to be jostled by Kanté, but the ball ran kindly for Antonio, and I think Craig Pawson probably felt the advantage was worth playing.
46 min We’re back. No changes from either side. West Ham 45 minutes away from a place in the last eight.
Good stuff: West Ham on top, but Chelsea not out of it. Frenetic, and appealing to watch. More of the same please! See you in 15.
Half-time: West Ham 1-0 Chelsea
That’s the whistle, and a really good 45 minutes of football comes to an end.
45 min Then Oscar goes close! That went just past the post. I don’t think Randolph would have saved that.
44 min Oh, that should have been the equaliser. Chelsea sliced West Ham open then: it was initially a beautiful through ball from Chalobah, and then Oscar crossed it low, first time, to Batshuayi, who was in the clear, and he put it over the bar! He was pressured belatedly, but he should have scored.
Updated
42 min What a hit from Obiang! And Begovic saved well! It was headed clear, and Obinag just creamed one on the half-volley from about 30 yards, which Begovic did very well to keep out. What a super strike.
40 min Aina fools Fernandes with a nice piece of skill by the left touchline, but the ball in from Oscar is too long for everybody.
Updated
38 min Lovely run from Lanzini, and he nearly gets the return from Antonio, but Aina is there to hack it away.
36 min Fernandes tries to Begovic with one from the edge of the box, but it’s straight at the goalie.
35 min John Terry is penalised for a soft foul on Antonio as the striker went down the left. Payet goes for goal, and Begovic tips it over!
Updated
32 min Aina hits one from long range, but it’s blocked. Then Batshuayi tries to surprise Randolph on the turn, but it’s no trouble.
Updated
30 min Oliver Pattenden makes a surprising revelation: “I feel the need to share with the world that I ran into Roman Abramovich at the ballet in New York last Friday evening. He was wearing Nike trainers, in case anyone was wondering how Chelsea’s new kit deal is affecting his personal life.”
Nike trainers at the ballet! What’s next? Skechers at the opera? Jogging bottoms at Glyndebourne? The very thought of it!
29 min This is entertaining. And then Kanté passed when he should have shot! He was in the clear on his left foot, but rather than go for goal he tried to find Batshuayi, and West Ham got players back to block.
26 min Batshuayi wanted a penalty after he clashed with Reid, but Craig Pawson says no.
25 min Willian can’t find Batshuayi, and West Ham break, but Antonio’s shot from 20 yards dribbles through rather apologetically to Begovic.
23 min Better from Chelsea: they’ve just stopped the West Ham surge.
21 min Randolph with an excellent save from Chalobah! He just smacked one from the edge of the box, and Randolph did really well to tip it over. Corner to Chelsea, but it’s wasted.
19 min Just looking again at that Kouyaté goal, he was nearly on the edge of the penalty box. Noble played it in with pace, but Kouyaté did so well to get up above Terry and find the top corner. It really was a fine goal.
Updated
17 min Cleared comfortably, and Willian tries to lead the charge for Chelsea, but his pass for Kanté is misplaced, and West Ham win it back.
16 min Chelsea are all over the place at the moment. West Ham well on top, and Fernandes wins a corner off Aina.
Updated
14 min Almost two for West Ham! Lanzini glided into the box, Cresswell got a touch, Payet looked as though he was shoved from behind from Kanté, but it fell to Antonio, who hit a left-foot shot inches wide! It’s all going off here.
12 min That’s a terrific goal from Kouyaté. Payet played it in, it wasn’t cleared properly, and it came out to Noble, who fizzed it back in, and Kouyaté got up really well to plant a header past Begovic from about 15 yards. He had so much to do there. That was really, really good.
Updated
GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Chelsea (Kouyaté 11)
What a superb header! West Ham lead!
9 min Free kick in a good area for the hosts, and Payet teases it into the six-yard box, where David Luiz is alert to clear the danger. Corner.
8 min Randolph saves from Kante! Great move by Chelsea, and Willian found Kante charging through the midfield, but he just couldn’t find the corner. He hit it well enough, but Randolph strong found a strong right hand to deny him. Good stuff from Chelsea, though.
5 min Now West Ham win a free kick after Aina fouls Fernandes. Payet curls it in, Batshuayi heads it up into the air, but the whistle goes for a foul on Begovic.
Updated
3 min Ola Aina wins a corner on the left. Willian takes it, into the near post, and Terry lifts it over the top! Decent chance: Terry wasn’t tracked, but he just had to stretch for it, and it bounced up off his toe and over the bar.
Updated
2 min Look like both teams have started 3-4-3. Antonio looks to be the furthest forward for West Ham.
1 min And we’re off! No change of strip needed: claret-and-blue plays all-blue.
We’re almost ready. Teams just emerging from the tunnel to the sounds of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. It’s not as good as the Z Cars theme, is it?
Here’s Raymond Reardon: “In your preamble you state that Chelsea are the defending champions when in fact Manchester City won it last season beating Liverpool. Obviously you have tried to remove Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea 2015/16 records from any existence and I wonder whether you may have to do the same with his 2016/17 season record.”
Of course! What a donut I am. Chelsea, of course, won it in 2015. My apologies.
Here’s a fun story to enjoy in the 15 minutes before kick-off: the day when Donald Trump met Saint and Greavsie:
Updated
That League Cup third round game on 26 October 1994, incidentally, was won by a Don Hutchison goal after only two minutes. Chelsea’s team that day contained Jakob Kjeldbjerg, David Hopkin and Neil Shipperley. No wonder they finished 11th that season.
Two other games are being played tonight: Southampton play Sunderland at St Mary’s, and there’s another match that people are apparently talking about. You can follow that here:
Reasonably strong teams from both sides. West Ham swap Darren Randolph for Adrian, and bring in Aaron Cresswell for Simone Zaza, but otherwise it looks the same team that beat Sunderland at the weekend. Youngsters Aina, Chalobah and Batshuayi get a place in Chelsea’s starting XI; Diego Costa and Eden Hazard start from the bench.
Tonight's teams
West Ham: Randolph, Kouyate, Reid, Ogbonna, Fernandes, Noble, Obiang, Cresswell, Antonio, Payet, Lanzini. Subs: Nordtveit, Feghouli, Zaza, Adrian, Collins, Ayew, Fletcher.
Chelsea: Begovic, Luiz, Cahill, Terry, Aina, Kante, Chalobah, Azpilicueta, Willian, Batshuayi, Oscar. Subs: Alonso, Hazard, Pedro, Costa, Matic, Eduardo, Solanke.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Hello and welcome
Another appealing all-Premier League tie, and one that promises plenty of needle: West Ham and Chelsea aren’t exactly the best of friends, and an opportunity for the Hammers to knock out the 2015 winners is one they’ll be unwilling pass up. West Ham have never won the League Cup, and they’ve endured a poor start in the league, but they did win in the last minute against Sunderland at the weekend, and 22 years ago on this very day they beat Chelsea 1-0 in this competition. Chelsea are on the up, however, and they looked excellent in tonking Manchester United 4-0 on Sunday. This should be a good one.
Kick off at 7.45pm local time. Join us then!
Updated
Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, read about the London Stadium’s tinderbox tie test:
One of the rationales for moving to the London Stadium, alongside the boost to hospitality revenue and commercial potential that would lift the club to the mythical “next level”, was that many more fans would be able to enjoy nights such as these.
As it is, the 57,000-capacity stadium will not be sold out given the requirement for all home ticket buyers to have a history of purchases and, perhaps, the ennui felt about the new stadium by some and possible trepidation felt by others.
The second the fourth round tie was drawn, minutes after a nervy West Ham had scored a last-minute winner to overcome Accrington Stanley, there were rueful smiles and sharp intakes of breath among club officials who were already dealing with issues arising from the move to Stratford.
Amid dismal results on the pitch as new signings failed to gel and key players from last season remained on the injury list, even those supporters who were enthused about taking over the tenancy of the London Stadium started to question the move.
The so-called “migration” of season-ticket holders was handled badly, with families placed amid those who expected to be able to stand and sing and vice versa. West Ham say they are making progress with shifting around those who bought “off plan” and that the number of complaints has subsided.
Updated
