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Ten Talking Points From West Ham 2 Chelsea 1 - When the OS Became our Home


Hilarious, eh? I left the LBC studios at 7pm but had a cab driver who seemed to pick a particularly bad route to St Pancras, which meant I had to get the 7.37 train. I arrived at the stadium with ten minutes played. I’ll just get a burger, I thought. And just as I did, the cheer went up. I bounded up the steps to see the replay on the big screen what a goal.

And what a game. As a complete performance, it was about as complete as you’ll get. Passing, attacking, dominant in midfield and calm in defence. What more can you ask for? In a couple of games (Watford and Sunderland being the prime examples) we’ve played really well for 30 minutes, but then gradually faded. Today we didn’t fade at all. It was a consistently brilliant performance. There wasn’t a time when Chelsea looked as if they might overpower us. And that’s not to diminish their danger. They always looked dangerous and given the quality of their players, we shouldn’t be surprised by that. This wasn’t a weak team. Costa and Hazard didn’t start but they played for half an hour.

So…

1. Edimilson Fernandes had another excellent game, and he took his goal superbly well. Even as he shaped to shoot you could tell it was going to be a goal. But it’s his all round game that I like. He’s certainly issued Bilic with a ‘drop me if you dare’ challenge.
2. I thought Pedro Obiang was again immense. He had several driving runs and was as strong as an ox. This midfield threesome of Obiang, Noble and Fernandes really offers a lot. I doubt any of us would have predicted that at the beginning of the season.
3. The back three performed brilliantly again, and came close to their third clean sheet on the trot. In the second half it was Kouyate who shone, in the second it was Winston Reid, who resembled a brick wall. That’s not to underplay Ogbonna’s role at all.
4. I would defy anyone to tell me that the atmosphere at the stadium tonight was inferior to a night game at Upton Park. The place was buzzing. The singing and chanting was back to Boleyn levels and the place was rocking. You could just see it in people’s faces. This was the night that stadium became our home.
5. Michail Antonio didn’t score, but he did everything but. He was everywhere. His speed was phenomenal and at times his runs were quite spellbinding. But you sensed that even he hadn’t quite got a clue what he was going to do next.
6. I wasn’t quite sure why Bilic risked playing Ayew for 13 minutes, when he didn’t need to. We weren’t chasing the game. We didn’t need another option in attack. OK, he lasted the pace, and it was good for him to get some gametime, but otherwise, what was the point?
7. Feghouli played rather well when he came on and did a few crowdpleasing tricks.
8. It’s not a coincidence that West Ham’s change in fortunes has coincided with a return to form by Mark Noble. I thought he was outstanding today. He was less of a Ray Wilkins and more of a Bryan Robson, constantly driving forward.
9. Lanzini had a quiet game but was unlucky not to score a replica of his goal against Crystal Palace.
10. Payet faded towards the end of the game but for the first 60 or 70 minutes he was his usual brilliant self. We didn’t see any of his trademark free kicks from outside the area, but he did nearly score one from the left hand side of the penalty area. The angle was impossible, but he hit it so hard and Begovic did well to tip it over.

We now have a quarter final away at Old Trafford. And you know what, we shouldn’t be afraid of that at all. Bring it on.

It may have taken some time for our season to spring into life but in the last three games it has. Let’s hope we keep it going at Goodison on Sunday.

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