Andy Carroll’s header 11 minutes from time has seen West Ham United beat 10-man Chelsea 2-1 on Saturday London derby at Upton Park.
The game started with an intensity befitting a match between local rivals and after a combative opening few minutes, the visitors wasted a clear chance to open the scoring when Diego Costa blazed over the bar with just Adrian to beat after Cesc Fabregas’s dinked ball over the top.
After Asmir Begovic had tipped Payet’s free kick over, the Frenchman’s resulting corner found its way through the box to Mauro Zarate and the Argentine made no mistake, smashing home to break the deadlock.
Manuel Lanzini scrambled Kurt Zouma’s header clear from on the goalline and after Nemanja Matic was booked for fouling Cheikhou Kouyate on the break, James Collins’s header was held by Begovic.
Matic was shown a second yellow card for hauling down Diafra Sakho to reduce Chelsea to 10 men and leave them with a mountain to climb, and Mourinho was sent to the stands for the second half for his reaction to the decision at half-time as the Blues lost their discipline.
However, 11 minutes after the restart, the beleaguered visitors restored parity when a loose ball from a corner dropped to Gary Cahill in the box, and the centre-back smashed past Adrian to level the scores.
Moments after Ramires somehow failed to put Chelsea in front for the first time from close range, the hosts restored their lead when substitute Carroll rose highest to meet Aaron Cresswell’s cross and thump a header past Begovic with 11 minutes remaining.
Willian fired over the bar straight from the kick off as the rattled champions went in desperate search of a second equaliser but West Ham clung on to secure a sixth win of the season and move second in the table.
—