Sam Dalling was at Stamford Bridge for our match report.
Thomas Tuchel spoke about Antonio Rüdiger’s decision to leave the club in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.
He wants to leave the club. He informed me of this is in a private talk. We gave everything - me and the club - but we could not fight anymore because of the actions. Without the sanctions we would at least be able to carry on fighting, but out hands are tied. We don’t take it personally. It is his decision.
He is a key figure and will stay that way until the end of the season. But it is disappointing. We will miss him a lot. He is a top defender in the last one and a half years for me. We then need to find another solution.
The match-winner, Christian Pulisic, spoke to Sky Sports.
It feels good to be more secure in the top four. We need a win at home and it feels great in front of our fans. We need to finish the season strong. Some good league games and then a final. I needed to come in and make a difference and show I want to be playing.
Premier League scores elsewhere:
Brighton 2-2 Southampton
Burnley 1-0 Wolves.
Everton are in the bottom three, and now have to play Liverpool. Oh, Frank. Oh no.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 33 | 59 | 80 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 32 | 61 | 76 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 32 | 40 | 65 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 33 | 12 | 60 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 33 | 18 | 58 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 34 | 2 | 54 |
| 7 | West Ham | 34 | 8 | 52 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 33 | 4 | 49 |
| 9 | Newcastle | 34 | -15 | 43 |
| 10 | Leicester | 32 | -4 | 42 |
| 11 | Brighton | 34 | -11 | 41 |
| 12 | Brentford | 34 | -8 | 40 |
| 13 | Southampton | 34 | -16 | 40 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 32 | 2 | 37 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 32 | -4 | 37 |
| 16 | Leeds | 32 | -30 | 33 |
| 17 | Burnley | 33 | -16 | 31 |
| 18 | Everton | 31 | -19 | 29 |
| 19 | Watford | 33 | -36 | 22 |
| 20 | Norwich | 33 | -47 | 21 |
Full time at Burnley.
— Joe Thomas (@joe_thomas18) April 24, 2022
This is what it means for Everton ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/NSZzkER6XO
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Full-time: Chelsea 1-0 West Ham
That’s a big result for Chelsea, stopping the rot despite a very odd, disjointed performance. It all swung on Craig Dawson’s foul on Lukaku, who made an impact on coming on. Jorginho might have made a terrible mess of the penalty but Chelsea took advantage of Dawson being sent off. Their top four place now looks highly secure though it’s also fair to say that all remains not well at the club. These are still uncertain times.
90+4 min: Alonso, who has had a decent game amid a few shockers, clears the danger when it looks as if Fornals might get on the end of a cross arrowing into the box. And that’s pretty much the last of it. Chelsea are winners, somehow.
Updated
90+3 min: The Chelsea fans are up and singing now. They’ve been quiet but then again their team had given them very little to work with.
90+2 min: A smile from Thomas Tuchel, a grimace from Declan Rice. It’s a funny old game. West Ham are down to ten and rocking as Mason Mount tries a long-ranger. Though the penalty was missed, Craig Dawson’s challenge changed the game.
Goal! Chelsea 1-0 West Ham (Pulisic, 90)
Declan Rice had stepped into the West Ham defence, but they look disorganised as Alonso cuts down the left, cuts it back and Pulisic, Captain America himself, slides home.
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88 min: Look out for some debate over whether Lukaku wanted to take that. Jorginho did his usual skip and perhaps the Chelsea pitch hampered him, but he pea-rolled it to Fabianski, who read it well. Credit to the goalie, the embarrassment lies with the Italian.
Missed penalty by Chelsea's Jorginho!
There was a conflab over the penalty. Lukaku wanted to take it. Instead, up steps Jorginho and he passed the ball right at Fabianski. Honestly, that was hilarious.
Updated
West Ham's Dawson is sent off!
86 min: VAR looks at Dawson’s challenge as denying a goalscoring opportunity, and that’s an early squeeze of the Wash and Go for him.
Updated
Penalty to Chelsea!
Romelu Lukaku spins Craig Dawson on to Thiago Silva’s flick and is pulled down. Good play from Lukaku, bad from Dawson!
Updated
82 min: Marcos Alonso is booked for a flailing elbow on Fornals, and then from the free-kick Mason Mount is knocked over by Craig Dawson, a waste of everyone’s time, frankly.
80 min: Ziyech cut in from the right, waves his left to open the tin of beans and the ball flies behind. Tuchel, sipping water in the stands, simmers with barely concealed ennui.
79 min: Benhrahma off, Lanzini on is the latest West Ham change, and Bowen has the latest shot, smashing wide.
78 min: Mason Mount fizzes one over, he’s not quite the force of old at the moment.
76 min: Triple Chelsea sub: Werner, Havertz and Loftus-Cheek all off, on come Pulisic, Lukaku and Ziyech. Made for Rom, this one.
74 min: The ball falls to Werner, the goal gapes once more, he sticks out a leg but can’t get enough on it the ball spins to Fabianski. Typical Timo.
73 min: West Ham sub: Bowen on for Yarmolenko.
72 min: Chelsea with some sustained pressure. Loftus-Cheek, who has done OK at right wing-back, flashes a cross over and Alonso heads over.
70 min: Yarmolenko goes through, and gets two attempts at it, only for the ball to be cleared. Then Chelsea go down the other end, Mount’s shot is blocked by Dawson, and it falls to Werner. The goal gapes, the crowd are expectant. The side-netting is hit...Lads, it’s Timo.
68 min: No, not much is happening here. This game has been played not even at half-pace, more quarter-pace, with plenty of breaks in play. Thiago Silva surges on and has a dig - and why not - and the ball almost breaks to Timo Werner, who is offside, as per.
66 min: Cresswell takes an age over a throw-in, and ends up getting a telling off for doing so, but no booking.
63 min: Premier League update: Burnley 1-0 Wolves. That puts Everton in the bottom AS IT STANDS. Oh my.
62 min: On comes Declan Rice for West Ham, Mark Noble going off. Does this feel like a risk? Yes, frankly.
62 min: Premier League update: it’s now Brighton 2-2 Southampton, James Ward-Prowse getting both Saints goals.
60 min: Fabianski called into action when the ball comes off Dawson as Kante shoots. Up in the stands, Stuart Pearce can be seen, the West Ham coach. He’s 60 today, to make you all feel old.
On Stuart Pearce’s 60th birthday, a reminder of his final match as a player in 2002.
— Stu’s Football Flashbacks (@stusfootyflash) April 24, 2022
Stuck on 99 career goals, an injury time penalty is given at Maine Road. Dave Beasant tells him he’s going to stand still. The scene is set to retire in style… #MCFCpic.twitter.com/UTqjJgRuyv
58 min: In turn, West Ham spring to life. Yarmolenko cuts in, the ball sit on his left foot, and yet he passes to Soucek whose shot is blocked. That seemed a waste considering he could open a tin of beans with his left foot, to use the old meaningless phrase.
55 min: The home fans start singing as Timo Werner surges on. He’s a cult hero at the Bridge, though Craig Dawson stops him, the veteran something of a one-man defender at the moment.
53 min: Actual football, a fine block from Craig Dawson, and then another as Chelsea spring into some form of life. The crowd even gets exercised, rather than exorcised, which they perhaps needed before, such was the silence. The pressure is being piled right on.
51 min: Mason Mount is down as Seb Coe sit in the stands. Bruce Buck is shown, too, as Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia. The interest is all off the pitch at the moment, rather than on it.
49 min: More prog, more prog revival of the 80s, from Ian Sargeant, who claims not to like prog but knows a lot about the noble movement. “On the prog rock theme Uther Pendragon is 6-1 for the 315 at Bath. It’ll carry £2 of mine Which is my entire life’s spend on prog rock.”
48 min: Are Chelsea playing better? Not yet, not at all. There’s not much movement out there.
46 min: Anyway, on the with the show at Stamford Bridge. Let’s hope for better. Thomas Tuchel is doing plenty of talking on the sidelines. Looks like he wants his subs to warm up.
Updated
So, are Amen Corner prog? “No. Although Weaver did join the Strawbs as Rick Wakeman’s replacement.” That’s the verdict of Joe Pearson (prog nerd since 1971) in Indianapolis. My mum had a Strawbs album. I never investigated.
Bad news for Southampton, and a former Chelsea player. It’s Brighton 2-0 Southampton.
It’s Burnley 0-0 Wolves. All eyes on that one for Frank Lampard’s Everton.
We're all with you, @tino_livramento ❤️ pic.twitter.com/riTZP2NvNd
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) April 24, 2022
Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “Sounds like neither team really knows what to do with this match: Stick ? Twist ? Not go bust for either of them. Anyway, here’s a Prog message for both sets of fans during their respective dilemmas.”
Question: are Amen Corner really prog?
Ian Sargeant: “Perhaps some additional players and a 90125 formation?” Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe perhaps?
Updated
Half-time: Chelsea 0-0 West Ham
The half closes out with Marcos Alonso getting the ball launched out of play for no particular reason, emblematic of the game as a whole. This has been one of the weirdest games of the season. West Ham reserves are holding their own in the Marie Celeste that is mid-sanction Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have been poor, offering very little in a game without much in the way of excitement, where the intrigue lies off the field. Thomas Tuchel’s copious notes are going to get an airing. Question is: will his players respond?
45+3 min: Premier League score update: Southampton are now two goals down away to Brighton, after an own-goal from Salisu.
43 min: There is a game going on but it really isn’t very good. It’s very strange, though, an oddity in itself (no prog, more glam).
41 min: John Peeler (!) joins the prog party: “So in a Roundabout way I gather that Moyes is worried about his team being Fragile?”
The game so has been a script for a jester’s tear, and anyone thinking Chelsea can challenge the top two on this performance is living in the past.
39 min: Graeme Jamieson gets in touch: “Do you have a theory on why big Tam keeps getting mangled upside the heid? Is it his competitive bravery, unfortunate coincidence, bad timing, or poor balance? Can’t imagine Mrs. Soucek is much enamored by ye olde Association Football.”
Players that fall over a lot. I would add Kieran Trippier to the list. Seems to be permanently on his back.
37 min: Good defensive header from Chalobah stops Benrahma surging on to a Yarmolenko cross.
35 min: Antonio Rudiger pictured in the stand. There’s a player who will be missed, and who was so good in last year’s Champions League final.
33 min: The game is so bad that Gary Neville has been on a lengthy monologue about Romelu Lukaku. Meanwhile, Yarmolenko whips a shot wide when he might be better leaving it to Fornals.
31 min: Chelsea building up a head of steam? Not really, West Ham are back and organised in numbers. Thomas Tuchel being driven Closer To The Edge? Yes.
Updated
29 min: From Joe Pearson: “Scott Murray broke out Brian Eno during yesterday’s Arsenal - United MBM. What will prog’s own John Brewin drop on us today?” I perhaps should have mentioned Larks’ Tongues In Aspic when talking of something being sloppy.
Updated
27 min: John Potter gets in touch: “Not sure your comment about the table and top 4 for Chelsea looking insecure stands up to scrutiny. They have games in hand on everyone around them still and are still in the box seat I’d say.”
Watching this showing so far, I really wouldn’t be so sure.
26 min: This is very strange from Chelsea. Mount wafts one wide, and nobody seems to care. Aside from Thomas Tuchel who has his face on.
23 min: Alonso’s cross comes in, Dawson gets it clear. Yarmolenko and Fornals link and Kante has to run back to quell the danger. Chelsea continue to be sloppier than a tin of condensed milk.
21 min: Thankfully, Soucek looks OK, relief for David Moyes, who is on injury watch dor this game. Every tackle must make him wince.
19 min: Nasty clash of heads between Thiago Silva, and Thomas Soucek, with the West Ham player coming off worse.
17 min: Declan Rice warms up, and gets applause from the away fans. Benrahma escapes after Azpilicueta, his boots perhaps hampering him, but shoots at Mendy. Then Chalobah loses the ball to Fornals. So sloppy from Chelsea.
15 min: Thomas T is writing notes, and he doesn’t seem happy. Werner then finds space on the left, and whips a ball to the back post that Havertz doesn’t get to. Would Romelu Lukaku have done better with that. The answer, sadly, is very probably not. That’s been an arse-clenchingly bad move for all, hasn’t it?
13 min: In the dugout, Declan Rice is sat behind David Moyes and the hope is that the West Ham captain doesn’t have to play a second of this game.
11 min: Azpilicueta has to leave the field as his boots have split in half and he’s giving the kitman some grief as he searches for a spare pair.
Updated
10 min: Yarmolenko shows some impressive strength on the ball in midfield, he’s making his first Premier League start in 16 months.
8 min: Masuaku has taken a knock, and West Ham can’r really afford another injury though the full-back is OK to continue. Meanwhile, Ruben Loftus-Cheek cuts in from the right and shoots with his left.
6 min: As for this game, it’s been a little sterile, like it’s the end of the season or something.
5 min: News from Brighton, where the home team lead Southampton 1-0 thanks to a goal from Danny Welbeck.
3 min: Early attack for Chelsea, Kai Havertz makes inroads before Jorginho’s pass goes out of play. The empty seats really are apparent. The Bridge is something of a ghost ship.
1 min: And away we go in Sunday’s London derby. On the TV, Gary Neville is saying the pitch is pristine, so there goes the Clive Walker talk.
The teams are out at the Bridge, with those rather eerie empty seats, and perhaps the ghost of the sandy pitch Claudio Ranieri used to complain about, and before that Clive Walker and Peter Rhoades-Brown would dazzle upon. The empty seats lower down the stand remind of mid-1990s Chelsea so expect to see Paul Furlong, Mark Stein and John Spencer making their rounds.
Updated
Looking at that table, perhaps the top four is not so secure for Chelsea.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 33 | 59 | 80 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 32 | 61 | 76 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 31 | 39 | 62 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 33 | 12 | 60 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 33 | 18 | 58 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 34 | 2 | 54 |
| 7 | West Ham | 33 | 9 | 52 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 32 | 5 | 49 |
| 9 | Newcastle | 34 | -15 | 43 |
| 10 | Leicester | 32 | -4 | 42 |
| 11 | Brentford | 34 | -8 | 40 |
| 12 | Brighton | 33 | -11 | 40 |
| 13 | Southampton | 33 | -16 | 39 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 32 | 2 | 37 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 32 | -4 | 37 |
| 16 | Leeds | 32 | -30 | 33 |
| 17 | Everton | 31 | -19 | 29 |
| 18 | Burnley | 32 | -17 | 28 |
| 19 | Watford | 33 | -36 | 22 |
| 20 | Norwich | 33 | -47 | 21 |
“We felt it was the right thing to do today,” says David Moyes, who says the Burnley result last week - a draw - made his mind up for him in making all those selection changes.
Breaking news: another Chelsea change, as Andreas Christensen felt sick during the warmup so in comes Treoh Chalobah. Thomas Tuchel says Ruben Loftus-Cheek will play at right wing-back.
There's been a change to the Chelsea line-up today. 🔄
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 24, 2022
Trevoh Chalobah now starts in place of Andreas Christensen. #CheWhu https://t.co/1EHtduc9qI
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Jeff Harris gets in touch: “What about a mention of Banbury United. Southern League Central Division Champions. One home defeat and one away defeat all season . 102 points over the season>”
Yeah, what about them, Jeff?
FT| Full time here as Banbury finish the season with a win and a massive 102 points! What a season and what an end to it! Banbury seemed in control throughout but @needhammktfc fought well to get themselves a goal back but Banbury didn’t stop until the end!! pic.twitter.com/dV0ypVU1cY
— Banbury United FC (@BanburyUnitedFC) April 23, 2022
Thomas Tuchel spoke this week of his team’s drop in form.
Maybe … then it comes back to me because I should push them and make them alert,” he said. “It’s human to be tired, human to be more alert in a knockout game than a normal match. Sometimes it’s also good, the foundation to be able to play 60 games.
I remember at Mainz with one game a week and every game was like a cup final. On a Saturday, we gave 150% physically but also mentally, the players were drained until Tuesday. Once I stepped into being coach at Borussia Dortmund, I saw that players gave everything physically on a normal match but mentally it was not the same stress level as for players at Mainz. They were capable of playing more games.
It’s a thin line in judging – that’s why lazy is the wrong word. But it’s OK to feel less tension in a normal match in the Premier League and a home match than if you go to the Bernabéu. It’s normal because it is maybe less tension, less excitement, less pressure. But it cannot lead to being less alert. This can never happen.
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The uncertainty at the club is reflected by the loss of their star defender, a player just about any club would like to make us of.
So, Frankfurt is on David Moyes’s mind with those six changes, with Declan Rice is on the bench, as is Jarred Bowen and Michail Antonio. What of Chelsea? Malang Sarr and Romelu Lukaku are left out, little surprise after that Arsenal defeat in midweek. Reece James is not fit to play, and in come Jorginho, Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz, not a bad trio to bring in against the Hammers’ reserves.
The teams
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Christensen, Loftus-Cheek, Kante, Jorginho, Alonso, Mount, Werner, Havertz. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Lukaku, Pulisic, Chalobah, Saul Niguez, Barkley, Ziyech, Kenedy, Sarr.
Your Chelsea side this afternoon! 🔵#CheWhu pic.twitter.com/JZtpj2KK8d
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 24, 2022
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Cresswell, Johnson, Soucek, Noble, Masuaku, Fornals, Benrahma, Yarmolenko. Subs: Areola, Antonio, Lanzini, Vlasic, Bowen, Fredericks, Kral, Rice, Alese.
Six changes today.
— West Ham United (@WestHam) April 24, 2022
Here's how we're lining up...@betway | #CHEWHU pic.twitter.com/qcDu4DrOO1
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Preamble
These are uncertain times at Chelsea. There’s the overnight news that Antonio Rüdiger is to depart the club, and Andreas Christensen to follow, and then there’s the mood around the place. Thomas Tuchel was not happy with the pitch after that Wednesday night loss to Arsenal, and the empty seats and lack of availability of programmes reminded that the club is in sanctioned stasis. The three remaining bidders for the club are in abeyance, with story after story revealing it has not been an easy process. What awaits Chelsea on the other side of that saga is even more uncertain save to say it will not be like the Roman Abramovich era. So, are Chelsea primed to be on the end of a London derby defeat? It seems possible but then again, West Ham have their eyes on Eintracht Frankfurt and the Europa League while seeming to have run out of players. So, who knows what happens? And that’s why the Premier League is the best league in the world...
Kick-off is at 2pm. Join me.
