Chelsea 0 v West Ham United 1 (Cresswell 48), played Saturday 30 November 2019 at Stamford Bridge, attendance 40,595.
The win Hammers’ manager Manuel Pellegrini needed so much came courtesy of the extensive West Ham family last Saturday! It was Chelsea’s all time 250th F.A. Premier League London derby, with 25 wins out of 47 previous matches against West Ham United, who last won at the Bridge in September 2002. There were so many West Ham family connections, but the first family were the Martins. David, son of Hammers’ legend Alvin with 596 games for the club, was making his F.A.P.L. debut at age 33 years, with 342 appearances for 10 clubs outside the Premier League behind him. David, a former Spurs academy player, kept the sharp-shooting Chelsea strikers, admittedly without Tammy Abrahams, at bay and deserved all the media praise he got and the emotional embrace from his proud father.
Left back Aaron Cresswell, once in the England reckoning, scored the all-important allowed goal with a right foot finish after a strong overlapping run down his left wing. MichailAntonio’s second “goal” was rightly disallowed for hand ball. For Chelsea manager Frank Lampard (junior, being son of another Hammers’ legend, and was Uncle Harry Redknapp there too?) it was a reunion with the manager who had signed him for Manchester City. Frank had played in 13 of those 25 Chelsea wins against West Ham and scored 7 goals, but fortune did not favour him this time.
There are no Premier League London derbies (PLDs) in the mid-week matches, whether on Amazon Prime or not, but on Saturday 7 December Crystal Palace are at Vicarage Road Watford playing their 5th away PLDs match before any at home this season. Palace, buoyed by their mid-week win with 10 men against Bournemouth, look likely to win against the Hornets on their wretched form and looking for a third manager this season already. For West Ham and David Martin their reward for their heroics at Chelsea is another PLDs match this time at home to Arsenal, also on the manager merry go round. If Manuel Pellegrini did have 2 games to save his job what a pair this is!
Until next time, enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.