Chelsea’s hopes of catching up with Tottenham Hotspur in the race for a Premier League top four finish was dealt a big blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Super Eagles forward Victor Moses featured for Chelsea and went close on a few occasions before he was replaced by Pedro Rodriguez on 77 minutes.
Chelsea remain fifth on 57 points and are now 10 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the league table.
West Ham are now six points away from the drop zone on 34 points.
Chelsea took the lead from an unlikely source as Cesar Azpilicueta scored from a corner.
But former Manchester United striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, who scored several goals for the Red Devils against Chelsea, came on in the second half to score the equaliser for the Hammers.
West Ham had the game’s first decent chance on 13 minutes as Marko Arnautovic was picked out with a long pass but Gary Cahill did well to thwart the Austrian forward.
Few minutes later Morata thought he had given Chelsea the lead after rolling the ball into the back of the net following good link-up play between him and Eden Hazard only for it to be flagged for offside.
Morata went close in the 29th minute as his clever flick from Hazard cross went agonisingly wide.
Chelsea’s persistent pressure eventually paid off thanks to Azpilicueta who prodded the ball home from close range after Morata headed back across goal from a corner.
In the 51st minute, Moses was presented with a big chance to put Chelsea two goals up from Morata’s pass but blasted over the bar.
Moses had another chance on 69 minutes to get on the score sheet after cutting inside only to see his curler fly just past the post.
Chelsea were made to pay for their missed chances as Chicharito pounced on Arnautovic’s cut-back and fired into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.
West Ham were almost pegged back again on 79 minutes as Marcos Alonso fired a long range effort but Joe Hart produced a brilliant save to deny the Spanish defender.
With four minutes left in the game, Arnautovic almost won it for West Ham as he raced towards goal but was stopped by a superb tackle by N’Golo Kante.
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