FT: West Ham 0-0 Chelsea - Hammers outplay Blues but fail to take their chances

Goalless contests can sometimes be really entertaining, and that was the case on Sunday at the London Stadium, as West Ham United and Chelsea blinked each other in their latest crowd pleasing London derby fixture.

Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini’s side was very good on the day and deserving of ending the Blues’ 100% start to the season. But they will also feel they should have won the match with the amount of chances they had, only to fail at taking them. Michail Antonio, in for the injured Marko Arnautovic, wasted two full chances in the opening 45 after terrific midfield play from Mark Noble, Declan Rice, Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko.

Chelsea of course had their moments, but the key denial for Pellegrini’s side keeping their first clean sheet of the Premier League season came in the middle of the second half. Lukasz Fabianski produced another wonderful save in this campaign to deny Olivier Giroud from point blink range with his head. And then once again, West Ham had a chance to take a deserved lead, when substitute Robert Snodgrass delivered a wonderful ball in the 77th minute that Yarmolenko somehow blew from point blink range.

Maurizio Sarri’s team threatened late for a devastating winner, but Fabianski again came up here to deny Ross Barkley’s curling quality shot from reaching the back of the net. Good defending from Issa Diop ensured that Willian could not score with the last chance of the game, as West Ham continue to put behind their ugly start to the season with another good performance.

Pellegrini and company will hope to keep the positive vibes going next week, when they host inconsistent giants Manchester United on Saturday.