West Ham 3 Chelsea 2: Yarmolenko stuns Lampard with late winner after Willian double looked to have salvaged draw
FRANK LAMPARD will never forget his first season as manager of Chelsea.
An FA Cup semi final, Champions League football and an exciting wave of fresh-face kids in his team.
And being beaten twice by West Ham. It’s an exclusive club in the Premier League this season.
So far it’s only him and Southampton boss Ralph Hasnehuttl. But it will hurt a lot.
Not just because it robs his team of three points in the chase for third spot when they had a chance to leapfrog Leicester.
But also because it was against the club where he started and where the fans have an exaggerated grudge against him.
If London Stadium had been full last night it would have felt even more excruciating for Lampard, who started the night pumping his first when his team took the lead but finished it slumped in his chair.
As it was, West Ham’s players celebrated their first victory of Project Restart like they’d won the World Cup – which of course the supporters think they did in 1966.
MARK HALSEY ON DISALLOWED GOAL
VAR official Jon Moss ruled out Thomas Soucek’s goal for West Ham because Michail Antonio was in the line of Kepa’s vision but I disagree with this decision.
I don’t think Antonio prevented Chelsea keeper Kepa from seeing the ball or interfered with his line of vision.
I felt Kepa’s reaction was natural and he had already moved to try and save the close range shot.
Referee Martin Atkinson awarded the goal and I believe it should have been allowed to stand, especially as it took VAR three minutes and 20 seconds to adjudge Antonio was interfering with the keeper which shows there was doubt.
Not that they shouldn’t have done. It was hard-won, a goal ruled out by VAR would normally have done for this mentally fragile team.
But last night they dug in and dug themselves out of trouble.
The victory now move three points clear of the bottom three on a night when other results went their way.
Although before boss David Moyes and his players get too carried away it is worth pointing out that the last time West Ham did the double over their West London neighbours was 2002/03.
They were relegated at the end of that season. Just saying.
But the joy of Andriy Yarmolenko’s 89th minute winner ripple the back of the net will overcome any of the earlier agony.
Yet having a precious goal ruled out in the 34th minute was especially painful for the scorer Tomas Soucek.
Even from a quarter of a mile away in the press box it was easy to see the blessed relief on Soucek’s face when he poked in what he thought was the opener.
The Czech midfielder had up until then scored West Ham’s only goal since the resumption of the season – into his own net at Tottenham last week.
Cruel then that VAR should rob him of redemption. As Bowen’s corner swung in from the right, he, Cesar Azpilicueta and Michail Antonio made a three man scramble which ended with West Ham’s makeshift striker on the deck as the ball homed in on them.
Soucek did his best to chip the ball over his team-mate’s prone body without touching him as he sandwedged the ball into the net.
But a full three minute debate by video ended in heartache for The Hammers.
Criss-cross coloured lines all over the shop, rewinds and replays suggesting even the video boffins weren’t quite sure if an offence had been committed.
Antonio was ultimately ruled offside even though it can be said that no West Ham player has interfered with play for a long time now, which explains why they are in the perilous position near the foot of the Premier League.
Frustrating levels went through the roof three minutes after that when Chelsea’s artful winger Christian Pulisic cleverly drew a foul from Issa Diop to win a penalty.
Willian, the veteran winger only under contract for the rest of this month, stepped up and prodded home the penalty to give Lampard’s team the lead which would have stuck in West Ham throats.
Surprisingly, especially in the absence of skipper Mark Noble with injury, West Ham did not let their heads drop and took the game to Chelsea again.
Uncharacteristically folding under pressure, Antonio Rdugier put the ball out with an unforced error.
A similar corner to the first followed and Soucek slipped away from Azpilicueta, climbed above the athletic right back and headed goalwards.
Chelsea’s keeper Kepa and striker Tammy Abraham both lost their footing on the line and West Ham their equaliser.
This time nobody was wiping the smile off Soucek’s face as he kissed his hand and grinned skywards, while Lampard cursed from the dugout.
West Ham skipped into the second half clearly with their tails still up. Their passing improved two-fold, they were brisk and bright.
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And on 51 minutes the first half disappointment was almost forgotten when they went ahead.
Pulsing forward in a four man wave, Antonio went looking for a penalty against Rudiger but was waved away.
Still, the confusion allowed bubbly Jarrod Bowen to slip wide unnoticed and square the ball across the six yard box.
Amazingly, Antonio was back on his feet in time to sweep the ball in from eight yards.
The shock setback soon had Lampard reaching for his bench again and three subs quickly followed, though not in one fell swoop the way he hooked his trio of rookies at Leicester on Sunday in the FA Cup.
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But it was from his old stager Willian that he found relief with a superb equaliser with 18 minutes to go.
Captain Rice made one mistake last night and it was to take away the legs of Christian Pulisic as he advanced towards the Hammers’ box.
Dead-ball specialist Willian stepped up and curled a peach of a shot over the wall and crashing off of the left hand post of Lukasz Fabianski to claim his second goal of the night.
But it was not enough to earn a share of the spoils as Yarmolenko had the final say.