Chelsea 2 - 0 West Ham United

Sunday 17th March 2013

16:00

Stamford Bridge

Chelsea vs West Ham United
Goalscorers:

1-0 Frank Lampard 19'

2-0 Eden Hazard 50'

Analysis
So, a not overly unexpected defeat at the hands of local rivals. A number of contentious decisions from the referee may have left a bad taste in the mouths of West Ham fans, but if we're being honest with ourselves, Chelsea were just better than us on the day.

Chelsea were excellent in possession on Sunday, with all but Demba Ba and Petr Cech posted over 80% passing accuracy. To be fair to West Ham, we held the ball far better than we have done in recent weeks, with Jack Collison & Mohamed Diamé hitting the target over 90% of the time.

But the true quality of Chelsea's passing can be seen below. The image shows passes that led to a shot being taken. As you can see, Chelsea created chances from all over the pitch. In fact, between the three Chelsea attacking midfielders, Victor Moses, Juan Mata, and the outstanding Eden Hazard, Chelsea created 11 goalscoring opportunities.

In return, West Ham's attacking trio of Ricardo Vaz Te, Jack Collison & Matt Jarvis created 6 chances. The real issue with West Ham's attacking game on Sunday can be seen below. Almost every goalscoring opportunity came from the left wing.

A big talking point from the weekend was Sam Allardyce's decision to remove Mohamed Diamé at half time. It is difficult to say whether or not Sam was right in doing so, but we can look at the stats to make an assessment.

Initially, passing statistics suggest that Diamé was more accurate with the ball (90% to Taylor's 79%), but Taylor attempted more than double the passes that Diamé did. Taylor's passing was also spread more evenly across the pitch.

The first graphic below shows Taylor's passing, and the second Diamé's. What we can see, is that Taylor was more mobile than Diamé, getting the ball in all areas of the pitch and spreading the play well. However, we can also see that Taylor was often wasteful in dangerous positions, which means that West Ham attacks often broke down, leading to a sterile attacking display.

A regular criticism of West Ham this season has been the predictability of the play, and that was seen regularly at Stamford Bridge. Too often we relied upon Matt Jarvis to supply the cutting edge, making it easy for Chelsea to defend against us.

All in all, a poor display against an excellent team. The performance of Jarvis was encouraging, the return of James Tomkins was a nice sight, and we should also be pleased to see Jack Collison last the full 90.

The returns of Mark Noble, Joe Cole & Kevin Nolan will hopefully give us a boost in the next few weeks, and I still expect us to steer well clear of the drop.

General Play

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

26.5 Starting XI Ave. Age 27.5

Frank Lampard Best Performance Gary O'Neil

75.6 CI Rating 65.54

Demba Ba Worst Performance Guy Demel

56.15 CI Rating 60.64

58% Possession 42%

(averaged from whoscored, bbcsport & skysports)

87% Passing Accuracy 74%

80% in Opp. Half 66%

Ramires 98% Best Accuracy 91% Jack Collison

571 Passes Attempted 324

Juan Mata 77 Most Passes Attempted 56 Gary O'Neil

62 Long Balls 61

Juan Mata 8 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 9 Gary O'Neil

Offensive Play

24 Attempts on Goal 13

11 On Target 5

9 Off Target 6

4 Blocked 2

9 From Outside Box 6

Frank Lampard 6 Most Attempts on Goal 4 Andy Carroll

5 Corners 5

1 Offsides 0

19 Crosses 23

2 Successful Crosses 7

Juan Mata 8 Most Crosses Attempted 8 Matt Jarvis

46% Aerial Success 54%

Gary Cahill 4 Most Duels Won 9 Andy Carroll

Defensive Play

13 Tackles Attempted 17

12 Successful 15

Ramires 5 Most Tackles 5 Gary O'Neil

31 Clearances 44

Gary Cahill 10 Most Clearances 21 James Collins

10 Interceptions 10

Cesar Azpilicueta 4 Most Interceptions 3 Gary O'Neil

2 Shots Blocked 4

John Terry 1 Most Shots Blocked 2 Joey O'Brien

Discipline  

5 Fouls 14

Ramires 2 Most Fouls 3 Guy Demel

2 Yellow Cards 0

Winston Reid (WHU) 71'

Guy Demel (WHU) 73'

  

0 Red Cards 0

Head to Heads

Petr Cech vs Jussi Jääskeläinen

0 Goals Conceded 2

5 Saves 10

2 Crosses Claimed 1

  

45% Passing Accuracy 47%

20 Total Passes 15

16 Long Balls 15

80% % Long Ball 00%

Gary Cahill vs James Collins

50% Aerial Dules Won 00%

0 Tackles 1

1 Blocks 0

0 Interceptions 0

10 Clearances 21

1 Fouls Committed 0

85% Passing Accuracy 70%

34 Total Passes 10

5 Long Balls 6

12% % Long Ball 60%

Frank Lampard vs Jack Collison

84% Passing Accuracy 91%

67 Total Passes 22

3 Long Balls 3

51% % Long Ball 36%

1 Crosses 0

0 Successul Crosses 0

2 Chances Created 1

0 Assists 0

2 Tackles 2

0 Blocks 0

1 Interceptions 0

2 Clearances 1

0 Fouls Committed 0

6 Attempts on Goal 2

2 On Target 1

1 Goals 0

Demba Ba vs Andy Carroll

0 Goals Scored 0

4 Attempts on Goal 4

2 On Target 1

25% Aerial Duels Won 64%

78% Passing Accuracy 63%

23 Total Passes 30

0 Chances Created 0

0 Assists 0