Chelsea’s Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas (L) celebrates after scoring their first goal during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge in London on March 19, 2016. Ben STANSALL / AFP
Late equalisers in each half from Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas kept West Ham United out of the Premier League top four following a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
West Ham had the better of the first half and took a deserved lead through Manuel Lanzini, only for an error by Winston Reid in injury time to give Chelsea a free-kick that Fabregas curled home.
Andy Carroll restored West Ham’s lead a minute after taking the field as a substitute, but Fabregas levelled again from a penalty after Chelsea substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek was tripped by Michael Antonio.
Chelsea have not won for four matches, but remain unbeaten in the Premier League under interim manager Guus Hiddink.
West Ham are now unbeaten in eight games in all competitions, but will be kicking themselves for missing a good chance to move into the Champions League places.
The positive for Chelsea was that they showed plenty of spirit in the first match since their season was effectively ended by successive losses to Everton and Paris Saint-Germain in the FA Cup and Champions League.
West Ham, looking full of confidence, attacked from the kick-off and took the lead in the 17th minute.
John Mikel Obi was at full stretch to knock the ball out of Dimitri Payet’s stride, but it only travelled as far as Lanzini, 25 yards out.
The Argentine got the ball on his right foot, looked up and curled it over Thibault Courtois and into the net.
Payet then tried an extravagant volley from a cross by Mark Noble that had Courtois scrambling across his goal, and Cheikhou Kouyate, awarded a new five-year …Read More
Source:: Guardian Newspaper
