Chelsea returned to winning ways against fellow Londoners, West Ham at Stamford Bridge on Monday night as the contention for the Premier League title continues.
After the mini slip that saw them lose back-to-back games against Everton and Wolves, Chelsea recorded a 3-0 win in a game in which Tammy Abraham scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season.
Despite the win, Chelsea finds themselves out of the top four at the moment as they occupy the fifth spot with 25 points from 14 games, one point adrift of Everton, who also defeated Arsenal at Goodison Park during the weekend.
The Blues made an ideal start as Thiago Silva powered home a header in the 10th minute.
Despite missing a couple of good chances, Timo Werner played his part in his side’s second 12 minutes from time as his scuffed shot was turned in by Abraham.
The teenage striker, who is now back in the side in place of Olivier Giroud, then netted another barely two minutes later as he was in the right place to pick up the loose ball and curl home, profiting from Christian Pulisic’s missed header from a cross.
Why Chelsea should be considered as part of Premier League contenders
Recording such a performance against West Ham that has been having good runs in the absence of their main striker, Michail Antonio says a lot about Chelsea’s title credentials.
Not that they won the game alone, the Blues were the better side for large periods. West Ham will blame themselves for a lack of a cutting edge as they finished the game without a shot on target.
Chelsea will have to prove themselves against Arsenal that has been on a bad run and against Aston Villa, which can shock any team in the top flight in the next 9 days.
In th next two games, Chelsea has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt they want to be in the mix. So, Werner’s profligacy in front of the goal must stop. The Germany striker needs to end his eighth game goal drought soon.
His goal drought is surprising because he gets into the position to score but he fluffed them mostly. But the pressure won’t be much on his head provided either Abraham or Giroud continues to score goals and he contributes to them.
All in all, other players like Kai Havertz, Pulisic needs to upo their games further and contributes to the goals so as to reduce pressures of delivery on the strikers.
