West Ham United (1) 3 v 2 (2) Chelsea
40 Lanzini (pen) 28 Silva, assist Mount
56 Bowen, assist Coufal 44 Mount, assist Ziyech
87 Masuaku, assist Antonio
Yellows: Coufal Christiansen, James, Jorginho
Referee A Marriner.
Played Saturday 4 December 2021 at the London Stadium, attendance undeclared.
A strong second half performance by West Ham United toppled Chelsea from the top of the Premier League (PL) in the latest Premier London derbies (PLDs) match. The PL’s lead changed hands 3 times over the weekend’s matches with Manchester City (35 points) now top, Liverpool 2nd (34), Chelsea now 3rd (33) and the Hammers 4th with 27 points. The strength and skills of their midfielders Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, and the speed of forward Jarrod Bowen enabled the comeback, while the Blues midfielder Mason Mount was their man-of-the-match. West Ham’s winning goal came from an unlikely source in substitute wing-back Arthur Masuaku. He and Michail Antonio exchanged passes on the left wing, Chelsea’s defence went with the forward and the Hammers’ defender’s cross-shot went into the visitors’ net.
While the men were slipping up Chelsea Women completed a domestic treble of Women’s Super League (WSL) Champions, WSL League Cup winners, and now Women’s FA Cup winners for the 2020-2021 season with a 3-0 win over Arsenal Women in another London derby at Wembley Stadium in front of 41,000 on Sunday 5 December 2021. The scorers were Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr (2). Congratulations! This was an historic date being exactly 100 years since the English Football Association banned women from playing at league grounds saying “football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged”. All change in part thanks to the work of Kelly Simmons Director of the Women’s Professional game at the same, but no-longer “the same”, English FA.
The next PLDs match is on Friday 10 December when Brentford take on Watford, with the Bees in the better PL position. Then on Wednesday 15 December it is 7th placed Arsenal v West Ham United. This has been a home-banker in the last 5 seasons with the Gunners scoring 13 to the Hammers 3 goals in their 5 wins, but things are different this season!
Finally, as we are seeing at Tottenham Hotspur, Covid has far from gone away, so until next time, “Keep Safe”, and enjoy your football wisely, Andrew at PLDs.