First goal conceded from a corner by West Ham, Tale of two halves for Michail Antonio- Talking Points from Chelsea game | OneFootball

West Ham handed league leaders Chelsea a rare defeat as they stunned Thomas Tuchel’s men 3-2 at the London Stadium. The Hammers came into this game as underdogs on the back of disappointing results against Wolves and Brighton. Their defence was also weakened by the absence of both Aaron Cresswell and Angelo Ogbonna, which meant a first league start of the campaign for Issa Diop. However David Moyes’ men produced a fine second half performance to come from behind twice and edge this five goal thriller.

Here are our talking points from the game.

First goal conceded from a corner by West Ham in the 2021/22 Premier League season

Stunning as it might be to believe, Thiago Silva’s 29th minute opener was the first goal the Hammers had conceded from a corner in the league this season. The veteran Brazilian was given a free header, with Michail Antonio’s marking very suspect. It was also the forward who was robbed off the ball by Chelsea in the counter attacking move that lead to the corner.

Tale of two halves for Antonio

As mentioned above, Antonio was poor in the first half- he failed to hold on to the ball and gave away possession cheaply on several occasions as Chelsea bossed the game.

In the second half, the forward was a much improved player, and it reflected in West Ham looking a more threatening side. He played a key role in the buildup to Jarrod Bowen’s goal and very nearly set up another for his team mate after virtually bullying replacement LWB Callum Hudson Odoi out of the way.

Another victory over a big team, but more injuries

With Ogbonna and Cresswell unavailable during the game, West Ham also lost Ben Johnson and Kurt Zouma during the game. The former suffered a hamstring injury- it was the reason he wasn’t able to track back for the Mason Mount goal, while the latter had a collision with Kai Havertz, which also saw the Chelsea star replaced by Romelu Lukaku.

Moyes will be hoping the injuries aren’t too serious, otherwise it could prove disastrous for the Hammers given the crowded fixture list in December.

Chelsea concede three goals in a game after conceding only 6 in the previous 14

Chelsea had conceded just six goals in the previous 14 league games before this one, but shipped in half as many in this fixture alone. It wasn’t the best of afternoons for keeper Edouard Mendy, who looked a pale shadow of his normal self.

Another interesting tidbit- according to the Football Kit News website, this was only the second time Chelsea were wearing their yellow uniform this season. The previous occasion saw them convincingly beat Leicester 3-0, so this was their first defeat in the yellow kit- another nice little achievement for West Ham.

Masuaku conjures moment of brilliance

The problem with Arthur Masuaku is that you never quite know what you’re getting from him- he can be capable of both brilliance and brainfarts in the same game. That unpredictable nature is perhaps why he’s not really had much game time under Moyes, especially given how suspect he can be defensively.

But here, Masuaku’s moment of magic in the 87th minute gave the Hammers three important points and brought their campaign back on track after disappointing results against Wolves and Brighton.

And that result saw Chelsea go from first in the table to third, with Liverpool and Man City both overtaking them in the league standings at the end of GW 15.