Chelsea boss Antonio Conte concedes title, as West Ham secure first win under David Moyes

West Ham 1-0 Chelsea

An action packed derby game at the London Stadium ended with new West Ham boss David Moyes securing his first victory, whilst Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, conceded the Premier League after their fourth defeat in 16 games.

A happy Moyes explained how his side had taken confidence from their spirited perfornance against Manchester City last Sunday, which saw the Hammers lose out narrowly to the league leaders.

“We had a good plan and organisation,“ said Moyes, who once again deployed Marko Arnautovic and Michel Antonio in free running roles up front to stretch the Chelsea rearguard. A similar tactic had been deployed against City.

“We tried to fill the middle of the pitch with power and pace,” said Moyes, who though pleased with the rising energy levels of the players, said that he would like to see Arnautovic and Antonio play 90 minutes, not having to come after after 75 minutes as in this game.

The West Ham manager proved once again that he is not afraid to ring the changes, with Adrian retaining his place at the expense of England’s Joe Hart, after an impressive game against City. Others missing out on the start were the clubs four main strikers Andy Carroll, Andre Ayew, Chicarito and Diafra Sakho, all of whom started on the bench. Sakho did get on for the last 20 minutes.

The home side began as they meant to go on, not allowing Chelsea any space. The approach yielded early dividends, when, in the fifth minute, the impressive Arnautovic exchanged passes with Manuel Lanzini in  the penalty area, before calmly slotting home.

Chelsea then piled on the pressure with Eden Hazard seeing one shot go just wide, while Adrian turned another round the post.

Five minutes into the second half, Arnautovic was sent clear away by Antonio but Thibaut Courtois came out to block the resulting shot.

Fans wondered at this point whether West Ham would live to regret that miss, as Chelsea began to camp in the home team’s half.

The Hammers though held on, with Hazard and Alvaro Morata missing good chances for the visitors.

Moyes was again full of praise for the home fans for the way they got behind the team. “The fans have been fantastic since I came, it’s a great atmosphere,” said Moyes, whose never say die attitude runs throughout his players and staff. On one occasion, as the game reached  a climax, Stuart Pearce got involved, angrily kicking the ball away after a Chelsea player had tried to feign injury. The old West Ham favourite received loud applause as he returned to his seat - urging the crowd on.

Conte declared his desire to stay in the battle for the title but conceded that four losses, with two against sides at the bottom of the table really was not good enough. “You can lose once or twice,” said Conti. “I said it would be very very tough and that is proving true.”

published - "David's West Ham slays Goliath as Conte concedes title," - Morning Star, 11/12/2017