West Ham showed very little fight in sinking further into the relegation battle as they were badly outclassed by Chelsea at Upton Park. Frank Lampard and Oscar got the goals as the Blues registered a comfortable 3-0 win.
West Ham vs. Chelsea: Final score 0-3, Blues coast past hopeless Hammers
West Ham offered next to no resistance as Chelsea cruised to a 3-0 victory at Upton Park, thanks to goals from Frank Lampard and Oscar.
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The first 20 minutes of the first half were remarkably dull, with West Ham playing even more direct than normal and Chelsea struggling for fluency in and around the final third. A near miss from Samuel Eto'o was the closest either side went until a pair of defensive blunders combined to let Chelsea in.
Guy Demel was the initial culprit, as he failed to heed the previous warning with the Hammers' backline unsuccessfully attempting to pass it among themselves and almost giving the ball away several times before disaster struck.
Demel attempted to cushion a short pass back to Jussi Jaaskelainen with his thigh, a bizarre decision but even worse execution as he woefully underhit it. Jaaskelainen then compounded the error by needlessly coming out of his goal, arms flying to deny the pouncing Oscar, who although in a dangerous position was too wide to have a truly clear effort on goal. But Jaaskelainen’s clumsiness felled the Brazilian in the area, and up stepped Frank Lampard to smash the penalty into the top corner.
Chelsea were now on top, and it wasn’t too long before they registered their second, Jaaskelainen once again looking weak in being slow to get to a low shot from Oscar, which sneaked into the near post underneath the Finn’s dive.
That was the cue for Sam Allardyce to make a bold decision, and he elected to make a double substitution before half-time, although it wasn't well received by the home fans -- Joe Cole and Jack Collison were withdrawn for Modibo Maiga and Mohamed Diame, and a few boos heralded the change.
The second half ought to have been full of more promise for the hosts, but Chelsea resumed their attacks and went close twice in quick succession. Clever play from Oscar put Eto'o in a fine position down the right, and when his cross was blocked, before Gary Cahill saw a header hacked off the line from the resultant corner.
West Ham had a golden opportunity to get themselves back into the game just afterward, from an unlikely source. Demel looked to be going nowhere, boxed in at the corner flag by three Chelsea players, but spun away from one before dribbling past the other two in succession with some fine footwork, before his low cross found Modibo Maiga at the back post, only for the striker to hit a tame effort wide.
West Ham’s home fans were then further delighted to see Lampard double his tally, scoring in classic fashion by getting onto the end of a loose ball outside the area from Eden Hazard’s blocked shot and powering home to add gloss to the scoreline and complete a pretty miserable afternoon for the Hammers.
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, O’Brien, Collins, Tomkins, Demel, Nolan (Jarvis 76’), Collison (Maiga 40’), Morrison, Noble, Downing, J.Cole (Diame 40’).
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Oscar (Schurrle 83’), Hazard (Essien 84’), Eto’o (Ba 79’).
Goals: Lampard 21’ pen, 82’, Oscar 34’
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