Tammy Abraham on Monday hit a quickfire late double as Chelsea beat West Ham United 3-0 to reignite their Premier League challenge after consecutive defeats.
The Hammers proved tricky opponents at an empty Stamford Bridge, but lacked the firepower to hurt Frank Lampard’s men, who led early through Thiago Silva’s bullet header.
Chelsea enjoyed a strong start to the season before losses to Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers checked their progress, but the victory at the London stadium lifts them into the fifth spot.
Photo: AFP
Champions Liverpool have opened up a five-point gap at the top of the table, but behind them, only seven points separate second-placed Leicester City from 11th-placed Wolves.
“It was nice to see that at the end, because we had a period at 1-0 where it was tough — we dealt with that well,” Lampard told the BBC. “We dropped off slightly and it was important tonight we came back. There were loads of things for the team to show their character — we want more.”
“Christmas has been changed for everybody this year,” Lampard added. “For the lads, we just have to prepare for Arsenal. It’s a busy time of year for us.”
West Ham had the ball in the net in the seventh minute after a cleverly worked free-kick, but Declan Rice was denied by the off-side flag after an impressive finish from a tight angle.
Three minutes later, Chelsea were in front when Silva powered home a header from Mason Mount’s corner.
The Brazilian found the net from close range after a well-timed run, leaving West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski rooted to the spot.
Chelsea had possession most of the time after their goal without creating much of note, but West Ham worked their way into the game as the half wore on.
Timo Werner, who has not scored for Chelsea since early November, had a golden chance to double their lead in the closing minutes of the first period, but got the ball caught under his feet and Fabianski saved comfortably.
David Moyes’ team made life uncomfortable for the home side after the break, but did not make the most of their regular forays forward, despite the introduction of forward Said Benrahma.
West Ham were made to pay when Abraham, back in the starting eleven, doubled Chelsea’s lead with 12 minutes to go, settling the home side’s nerves and ending his own drought.
Werner cut inside and saw his scuffed shot tapped in by the England international, who was played onside by Aaron Cresswell.
Two minutes later, Chelsea were up 3-0 when Abraham fired home from a tight angle, after Fabianski had done well to keep out Christian Pulisic’s header.
That made it the eighth time this season that Chelsea have scored at least three goals in a Premier League match — and they nearly had a fourth when Werner struck the crossbar with two minutes left.
The win lifts Chelsea to 25 points — one behind fourth-placed Everton — while West Ham stay in 10th place.
Earlier, Burnley beat Wolves 2-1 to climb out of the Premier League’s relegation zone, thanks to goals from Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood.
TITLE CAMPAIGN: The victory sent the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series for the third time in the past four seasons as they seek their first championship since 2019 The stage is set for the Taiwan Series after the Rakuten Monkeys on Monday beat the Uni-President Lions 4-3 in Game 5 of the CPBL Challenger Series in Kaohsiung. The Monkeys, who entered the top of the ninth scoreless, tied the game with a three-run blast by Lin Chih-ping and scored the winning run in the 10th on an RBI single by Lin Li, a three-time batting champion in the CPBL. Both players entered the game as pinch hitters. “The coach told me to stay prepared as a pinch hitter in the later part of the game. My teammates had
The Ministry of Sports on Wednesday night called for the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) to address issues in Taiwanese soccer after national manager Huang Che-ming on Tuesday resigned following Taiwan’s elimination in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Taiwan on Tuesday were thrashed 6-1 by Thailand in their Group D tie at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Taiwan finished with no points, after losing all four of their matches, eliminating them from qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Huang made his surprise resignation at a post-match news conference, following three losses since he took over the team from English coach Gary White in August. Huang
HIT AND RUN: Toronto manager John Schneider got his wish that his team ‘find some slug in the air out here,’ as the Blue Jays combined to total 611m of homers Tired in Toronto, the Blue Jays slugged in Seattle. Vladimir Guerrero Jr and George Springer on Wednesday woke up the Jays, as Toronto hit five home runs to rebound from an early deficit, routing the Mariners 13-4 and closing to 2-1 in the American League Championship Series (ALCS). Toronto had 18 hits — all within the first three pitches of each at-bat. “If they give us a first pitch, the pitch that we’re looking for, we’re going to attack and we’re going to be aggressive,” Guerrero said. Seattle starter George Kirby gave up eight of the hits. “I wasn’t really executing when they got
For a second straight day, protests by La Liga players against staging a regular-season game in Miami, Florida, in December were censored or not fully broadcast for television audiences. The television feed of Barcelona’s home game against Girona switched right before kickoff to an exterior view of the stadium, which only showed part of the field from a distance. That impeded home audiences from seeing the teams’ players standing still for the first 15 seconds in opposition to La Liga’s plan to hold the Barcelona-Villarreal game across the Atlantic on Dec. 20. The broadcasts of the initial moments after kickoff of the
RSS