On December 4, Chelsea suffered a shock defeat to West Ham in an all-important London derby, a result which saw them slip to the third spot in the Premier League table. Despite Thiago Silva and Mason Mount scoring goals that gave them a lead, they managed to squander it twice and eventually conceded a bizarre winner in the 87th minute.
Silva headed home the opening goal of the game, hitting it into the ground and past the keeper. A few minutes later, Jorginho, who was culpable for Jadon Sancho’s goal last week, once again made a poor back pass to Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea goalkeeper handled the ball quite poorly, took an unnecessary touch, which allowed Jarron Bowen to get closer. Bowen drew a foul out of Mendy, and Manuel Lanzini converted the penalty, which got the Hammers on level terms.
The former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand lashed out at Mendy for taking that extra touch, which caused the panic and eventually, the goal. He said that the Frenchman should’ve cleared the ball straight away and conceded a throw-in.
“Jorginho leaves the short pass, yes, it is short but the goalkeeper gets there. Clear it straight away. He gets another chance to clear it and takes another touch then all of a sudden, its panic stops and he gives away a penalty.
Instead of taking that touch, give a throw in away. The problem is he has been caught trying to play perfect football. In those situations, it’s not about that,”
he said to BT Sport.
Chelsea, however, took control once again in the game with Mason Mount volleying a long pass from Hakim Ziyech. They went into the half-time break leading 2-1, but Bowen equalized 11 minutes into the second half.
Right towards the end of the game, Arthur Masuaku made a run on the left flank, and his cross-cum-shot deceived Mendy, and the hosts led with three minutes of normal time remaining.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel acknowledged the defeat by saying there were too many individual mistakes that cost them the fixture. However, the German added that this wasn’t a bad performance and there is nothing to worry about.
