Change
has come to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea spent last season bouncing from
early meltdown over Jose Mourinho to Guus Hiddink’s stumbling hangover,
and you might have been forgiven for thinking that the arrivals of Michy
Batshuayi and N’Golo Kante weren’t going to be enough to turn things
around. But skimming the Blues transfer dealings don’t give the full
feeling of the change that’s hit the club this summer. Antonio Conte is
here, and Antonio Conte isn’t going to take the sort of crap we’ve been
accustomed to for an answer.
It would have been easy for the
Blues, pegged back to 1-1 late after an impressive if slightly stolid
performance, to throw in the towel and the two points to start the year.
They’d have had every right to think a win deserved and a draw unjust,
and it’s not difficult to imagine a press conference in which the team
is praised and bad luck bemoaned. But the thing about excuses is that
winners never have to make them. Rather than indulge in self-pity after
a setback, Chelsea struck late to claim the spoils.
The first change was on the
teamsheet. Cesc Fabregas, hero of the 2014/15 title charge, was benched
in favour of a more recent vintage. Kante’s part in leading Leicester
City to the least probable Premier League title ever cannot be
overstated, but he fulfills a very different role to the man he replaced
in the lineup. This year’s Chelsea will value defensive stability over
flamboyance, and they’ll probably be better off for it.
Kante endured a slightly nervy
start, taking a soft yellow card for a foul on Andy Carroll in the third
minute. Pointing out that James Collins got away with a warning for a
slightly meatier tackle on Diego Costa is probably necessary to
foreshadow the spectre of an inconsistent refereeing performance, but
upon reflection pointing out that the man in question is the
professionally ambivalent Anthony Taylor does that job just as well.
Much like Kante, the Blues got
off to a slowish start, but everyone managed to gel before too long. It
was particularly important for Chelsea to establish a presence in
midfield, where Kante was flanked by Nemanja Matic and Oscar in a 4-3-3.
Both are players with something to prove this year — Matic’s revival
will be particularly important if a real top-four challenge is to
materialise — and they can be very pleased with their performances on
the night. The Dmitri Payet-less Hammers could barely get a touch in
central areas without being run off the ball by a blue shirt, and unlike
previous incarnations of this Chelsea squad it felt as though someone
was always going to be at the end of a loose ball.
But although the visitors were
being shut out of dangerous areas entirely, Chelsea had to pay a price
for dropping Fabregas. Shorn of the most creative passer in the squad,
the Blues were stodgy going forward, with only Eden Hazard causing any
real problems for West Ham’s back line. One particularly intrepid run
from the Belgian —which ended with a shot bent just wide of Adrian’s far
post — actually left Andre Ayew injured trying in vain to chase him
down, and Hazard’s willingness to take players on recalled the glories
of the 2014/15 campaign. If he’s returning to top form, Chelsea fans can
take real heart.
We would have had more to
celebrate in the first half had Taylor given us what seemed in real time
to be a straightforward spot kick. Oscar, struggling to open up the
Hammers while in possession, decided to create via his defending
instead. Poaching the ball off a criminally sloppy Mark Noble 25 yards
out, the Brazilian charged into the box before going down under contact
from the wrong-footed Winston Reid. It would have been a slightly soft
call and Oscar went down theatrically, but even on replay it looked as
though he’d been impeded. But no penalty was given, and the only
consequence of the whole affair was Diego Costa taking a yellow card for
complaining about it.
Complaints about the penalty
decision were, however, banished early after the interval. Some bizarre
defending from the Hammers let Costa behind the line, and although his
tight angle shot was blocked by Adrian the visitors failed to get the
ball to safety, eventually halting play via the
not-particularly-expedient method of barging Cesar Azpilicueta over in
the box. Right back Michail Antonio was the culprit, and he didn’t last
long following the foul — a rightly furious Slaven Bilic hauled him off
as punishment, putting on 22-year-old Sam Byram in his place.
By the time that substitution
was made Chelsea were of course a goal to the good thanks to the
penalty. Last year was an embarrassing one for spot kicks (and almost
everything else), so you might not have been blamed for worrying
slightly more than usual as Hazard stood over the ball. He ignored the
tension, however, and blasted into the roof of the net to make it 1- 0
West Ham were reeling and now
the chances began to arrive in earnest. Hazard should have made it 2-0
from Willian’s cutback, but the pass was to his lead foot and the
opening was gone before he could adjust. John Terry had a free header
from a corner go wide. Oscar and Willian had shots go behind for
corners. The Hammers were offering nothing, but for as long as we were
looking at a one-goal game there was danger.
And with Payet warming on the
touchline that danger felt more and more real with every wasted chance.
Bilic made his changes, finally committing his star 67 minutes in. Set
pieces began to feel rather more threatening as soon as Payet arrived,
and before long one had turned the game smartly on its head.
There was an element of
suspicious refereeing in the ten minutes that elapsed between Payet’s
introduction and the West Ham equaliser. Costa was inexplicably allowed
to remain on the pitch after taking out both of Adrian’s ankles with a
wild and hilarious challenge — we’ll have to add that one to Costa’s
long criminal record -- but the decisions weren’t all going Chelsea’s
way.
Azpilicueta deciding to thump
the ball clear from the vicinity of Andy Carroll’s skull was probably
ill-advised, but contact, if any, was minimal. Carroll’s dive, on the
other hand, was exquisite, and Taylor wasted no time in booking the
right back and awarding a close-range free kick. The wall did its job
that time, turning Payet’s shot behind for a corner, but that merely
postponed the inevitable.
