West Ham United suffered the cruellest of blows against Chelsea on Saturday evening in a dramatic Premier League clash.
Though it neither counts for much now nor in the context of the battle for safety in the Premier League, West Ham United impressed against Chelsea in the first half.
In fact, they blew the Blues away with a fine first half performance that looked set to lead Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to a fourth consecutive victory.
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It felt like it was coming….
Going defensive too early cost us! 😡
It wouldn’t be like the Hammers, however, without drama and a smack of disappointment.
Indeed, West Ham lost 3-2 to Chelsea after the hosts fought back in the second half to leave Nuno’s side with nothing.
Though clearly hugely disappointing, there are positives to take from West Ham’s loss to Chelsea.
Former Hammers goalkeeper Rob Green was particularly impressed with what happened in the first half.
Rob Green blown away by West Ham’s attacking stats vs Chelsea
At the interval, Green formed part of the punditry team who were discussing the events of the first half.
Alongside Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports, Green was shown a graphic highlighting the areas in which West Ham had attacked.
The right-hand side is where West Ham dominated, thanks to the excellent Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Interestingly, 56% of West Ham’s first half attacks came from the right, with 21% through the middle and 23% on the left.
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His best performance in a West Ham shirt?
When that was put to him, Green said: “I’ve never seen numbers that high in a game of football for one side, it is just so highlighted by the way they’ve played, the pace down that right side. Five players into the box in that last attack.
“And it is the belief that’s there as well, Wan-Bissaka has been fantastic, his physicality, they have been tremendous.”
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Wan-Bissaka was brilliant for West Ham against Chelsea, so much so that he actually achieved a career first.
Never before had the former Manchester United star recorded two assists in the same game.
Granted, there was an element of luck in earning the first given Jarrod Bowen’s fairly freak goal to open the scoring, but it would be hard to argue that Wan-Bissaka wasn’t excellent throughout.
The 28-year-old has not always convinced going forward, but Saturday was a reminder of his quality.
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