Manuel Pellegrini rues missed chances as West Ham secure 0-0 draw against Chelsea

West Ham 0-0 Chelsea

West Ham striker Andrily Yarmolenko picked up the man of the match award in this entertaining game but it was he who missed the most clear chance of the game.

In the 77th minute, substitute Robert Snodgrass put over a perfect cross from the left for Yarmolenko to steal in round the back alone but the resulting  header went wide.

Not that Chelsea  lacked chances, dominating long periods of this game.

The visitors best chance came after 65 minutes when a flick back from Eden Hazard found substitute Alvaro Morata alone in the goal area but his effort was miraculously saved at point blank range by Lukasz Fabianski.

The home stopper was in action again in the 90th minute pushing a Ross Barkley shot round the post.

For West Ham, a good chance fell to Michail Antonio, who saw his shot saved low down by Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

And for Chelsea, N'Golo Kante saw his header, from a Willian cross go just wide.

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini rued the wasted chances. "When you have such clear chances against such teams, you have to score,"said Pellegrini, who was nonetheless happy to have recorded the first clean sheet of his time in charge. "We forced them to play on the right side more than the left but in the second half lost too many balls."

Chelsea manager Mourizio Sarri praised West Ham, declaring he did not know how they lost their first four matches.

The Chelsea boss was alao aggrieved at having to play the game so soon after his side's Europa league game on Thursday night.

So a satisfactory days work for West Ham, though they must have wished that the injured  Marko Arnautovic had been on the end of some of those chances

published Morning Star - 24/9/2018