West Ham have shocked Chelsea and sent them from the top of the Premier League log with a 3-2 victory in the lunch time kickoff on Saturday in a turpsy turvy encounter at the London stadium coming from behind twice in the game.
Thiago Silva gave Chelsea the lead in what looked like it was going to be a routine victory for the Blues, before a defensive howler by Edouard Mendy cost Chelsea a penalty that was converted by Manuel Lanzini.
The visitors retook the lead through Mason Mount, who had assisted the opener, then Jarrod Bowen restored parity again, before Arthur Masuaku scored a sublime wonder goal towards the end of game to give David Moyes' team a resounding victory.
David Moyes rewarded Lanzini with a starting place ahead of Said Benrhama after putting up a good showing as a substitute in his last appearance and Issa Diop also returned to the lineup.
Romelu Lukaku was not fit yet to start for Chelsea as he started on the bench again. Reece James was, however, fit enough to regain his place in the team.
Although it was derby across cities, West Ham were always going to resist Chelsea, but the Blues were touted to see them off and started brightly when Hakim Ziyech was played down the right flank in the 11th minute. He slipped in Kai Havertz at the near post, but his effort nested in the side netting.
The Blues eventually took the lead in the 28th minute from a setpiece. Mason Mount's outswung corner was met by Thiago Silva, who rose highest to head home.
There was instant response from the home side as they went the other way from the kickoff and a ball into the Chelsea box was cleared only as far as Vladimir Coufal, who sent a half volley through the crowd of bodies. Mendy needed to quickly go down to turn the ball away.
Reacting accordingly, Chelsea also set an attack of their own as Ziyech pulls the ball back to Ruben Lotus-Cheek at the edge of the box, but he took too long on the ball and his eventual shot was deflected to allow Lukasz Fabianski make a comfortable save.
Then the unlikely happened when Jorginho made an awful backpass to Mendy. Although Mendy was able to collect the ball and had all the time in the world to clear, he decided to hold on to the ball and was quickly closed down by Bowen, who won the ball and committed the goalkeeper, who brought him down. Lanzini was up for the penalty duty and sent Mendy the wrong way.
Chelsea were not resting on this as they regained their lead just before the half time whistle. Ziyech finds Mount with a deep pass and the England international hit a first time volley to finish at the near post.
Moyes was forced to make a change before the half time whistle when he brought in Arthur Masuaku for Ben Johnson, who looked like he struggled to track the run of Mount leading to that goal.
Chelsea were also forced to make a change at halftime as Havertz did not return from the dugout following his earlier clash With Kourt Zouma. Lukaku finally got the nod coming off the bench.
Antonio Rudiger led the charge for a Chelsea third, carrying the ball all the way to the West Ham box, before passing to Ziyech, who narrowly sent his effort over the bar.
The hosts would restore parity for the second time in the game just five minutes before the hour mark when Bowen rifled the ball into the bottom corner.
Both teams went in search of the winner in an engaging encounter. Callum Hudson-Odoi found Mount with his clever cross, but his compatriot was only able to fire a lame shot at Fabianski.
Antonio also peeled off the Chelsea defence into the right hand post before sending the ball across an empty goal, but Bowen's stretched attempt could not hit the target.
Then the inevitable happened with three minutes of the 90 left. A quick throw in by West Ham saw Antonio and Masuaku exchange passes. The latter hesitated, trying to watch the run of Antonio and possibly return the ball. He, however, decided against that and hit a cross cum shot straight at goal that caught Mendy off guard and into the back of the net to give West Ham the victory.
Concluding Thoughts
It was a memorable win for the Hammers who were winless in their previous three Premier League games with 1 draw and 2 losses.
They were in need of a response and they could never have hoped for a better team to do that against than the log leaders as they further distanced themselves from Arsenal in fifth place by four points.
It was a disappointing loss for Chelsea to say the least. To have conceded that third goal in the manner that it happened and the Mendy howler was the lowest of it all.
They started the day at the top of the log and ended it in third position after Manchester City and Liverpool both capitalized on the their slip to usurp them at the top.
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