West Ham vs Chelsea FC: Blues Survive Upton Park Hammering

After escaping Upton Park with a 1-0 victory and three points, Chelsea FC players can finally celebrate Sunday’s Capital One Cup final Victory.

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The Blues — who defeated Tottenham 2-0 in the Wembley-hosted final — had no time to let their win sink in, with this game vs West Ham coming only three days later.

Eden Hazard — who scored the solitary goal today — admitted after lifting the Capital One Cup, that he felt a bit strange, having played in a final, and still having to play a Premier League match so soon.

"“It’s a bit strange to win a final and then immediately have a league fixture but until the end of the season we have a lot of games we need to be ready for.”-Eden HazardSource: Express"

Well, he could relax now. Manager Jose Mourinho promised to give his players two days off, seeing they don’t play again till next Wednesday when Paris Saint-Germain come to Stamford Bridge.

This trip to West Ham was always going to be a tough one. After giving everything at Wembley, playing such opponents so quickly could never be easy.

The Blues have Thibaut Courtois to thank yet again. The Belgian stopper has come up big for Chelsea on more than one occasion, and today was no different.

Chelsea went ahead in the 22nd minute through a rare Hazard header, but Courtois was definitely the difference-maker in the match, pulling off several impressive saves to steer his team safely to three-point land.

After being replaced by Petr Cech in Sunday’s final, he returned to the starting lineup with immediate impact.

West Ham could be credited for taking the game to Chelsea. They had 18 shots to Chelsea’s 12, with five of them on target. They also controlled the latter part of the match, piling pressure on the Blues’ back line till the final whistle.

Had it not been for Courtois’ heroics, the Hammers could have stolen a point or three. Albeit being on the losing end, several positives can be taken from this affair.

Chelsea had a few chances to put the game to bed as well. Ramires came close on two occasions, hitting the post, and forcing a save from Adrian off a free header shortly after. Willian also had a seemingly goal-bound shot blocked in the dying minutes of the match.

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Kurt Zouma — who started in a defensive midfield role like he did on Sunday — also put in a good shift. The young defender has really shown his worth at Chelsea this season, vindicating his transfer from St. Ettiene.

This game was a defining one for the Blues, these are the types of matches a team has to win if they want to snag a league title. With Manchester City winning 2-0 against Leicester City, they needed all three points to maintain their advantage.

They now have a few days to take a load off, but with 11 more league games to go, they can’t afford to take their foot off the gas.

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