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90+3min: FULL TIME. Chelsea win!

90+2min: Havertz tries to set up Abraham for the hat-trick, but the goalkeeper is alert to the through ball.

88min: West Ham turn the ball in midfield and Chelsea quickly turn to attack, Kante finding Werner on the right. He’s in the area and blasts it at goal. The crossbar denies him. Unlucky.

84min: Havertz on for Pulisic. He slots into midfield with Mount going wide left.

80min: GOALLLLLL ABRAHAM AGAIN!!! Chelsea smelling weakness. Pulisic and Tammy play a 1-2 on the right, finding Mount wide left. He crosses back in to Pulisic. Fabianski makes a great save on Pulisic’s header, but the rebound falls to Tammy and he gets his second in just as many minutes! 3-0, CHELSEA!

78min: GOALLLLL ABRAHAM!!! Tammy chests down a Mendy goal kick, finding Mount. He plays wide to Werner, who cuts inside and goes for the long shot. He doesn’t quite get a hold of it, but it runs right to Abraham, who’s well onside and finishes with ease. 2-0, CHELSEA!

76min: Werner tries to bully his way past Coufal on the left, but can’t get past him.

75min: Chelsea with a spell of possession at long last, before a loose touch from Emerson gives West Ham a chance to clear for a throw. Behind the play, VAR checks for a coming together in the West Ham penalty area, as Mason Mount gets blocked off, but no call.

73min: Mendy makes a good aerial claim to settle things down for a bit. Bowen putting in good work against Emerson and Werner to create that situation for the visitors.

72min: Werner nearly gets lucky on the press, but can’t quite find the room for a shot. Then Pulisic and Abraham try to combine, but it doesn’t quite come off for the pair, summing up the front three’s day so far.

68min: Bit of a scramble in the area, but Chelsea survive as Zouma clears for a throw.

66min: Kovacic on for Jorginho, and the midfield takes a more familiar shape.

65min: Azpi with another good tackle, and finds Werner who has room to counter. But he doesn’t take all the space and instead tries to play in Abraham. West Ham cover that easily.

63min: Jorginho half-clears a cross and Fornals has a chance to shoot. Azpi makes a great block, and Chelsea eventually clear the resulting corner.

62min: Chelsea corner. Mount with the outswinger, as usual, finding Thiago Silva on the near post. But he has two markers this time, unlike in the first half, and he can’t quite guide it on target.

59min: Chelsea unable to play out Mount gives away a foul in the right channel. Coufal swings in the free kick. Ogbonna’s header is well off target. On replay, Thiago Silva may have been the last to touch it actually.

57min: Zouma tries to dribble through midfield, but sees the ball pinched off of him and it’s 5-v-5 for West Ham. Silva across to cover and help clear for a corner. Chelsea clear, but Werner loses the ball and West Ham have a chance to cross. Zouma clears.

54min: West Ham corner. Cresswell with the outswinger from the left. Chelsea eventually win a goal kick from a scramble, but Zouma stays down behind the ball after Ogbonna landed on him amidst all that. Seems okay to continue.

53min: Jorginho looking for Abraham with a big ball, but West Ham win out, leaving Tammy on the ground. He thinks about staying down, but then gets up quickly.

51min: Fabianski looks okay to continue, but is walking around a bit gingerly.

49min: Pulisic takes down a ball at halfway, and plays in Abraham down the right. He delays his cross just a bit, but still puts it in towards Werner. It’s just out of his reach, but his slide takes him into the West Ham goalkeeper Fabianski, who stays down injured.

48min: Cresswell cross, Haller rising high, but heading wide.

SECOND HALF: No changes for either side as Chelsea wait for West Ham to emerge. Chelsea restart proceedings eventually.

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45+2min: The front again trying to combine, but it doesn’t quite come off. Pulisic still finds the loose ball and is again almost able to wriggle through the defenders. Not quite this time.

45min: Now it’s Jorginho who’s down, after an awkward landing on the left leg, straight knee that seemed to buckle backwards a bit. He seems okay to carry on ... for now.

43min: Abraham wins the ball, finding Pulisic and it’s 3-v-2 for Chelsea. Puli plays wide to Werner, running the left channel, but his first touch isn’t great and his left-footed shot is stopped by Fabianski. West Ham deal with the corner well enough.

41min: Azpi wins the ball cleanly from Cresswell high up and Chelsea look to be in 4-v-4. But the referee somehow sees a foul in there and West Ham get the free kick. From the restart, the visitors push on the left, and Rice is in past Azpi. He pulls it back from the byline but Jorginho intercepts with a good sliding tackle, and Mendy can pick up the loose ball.

40min: Good play by Emerson to push on the left, and get Chelsea some reprieve. All the momentum on the visitors’ side lately.

36min: Kante on the ball, looking for Pulisic, who doesn’t have room to turn this time. Werner making a great run down the right channel, ignored.

34min: Coufal and Soucek combine on the right, with the latter pumping a first-time volley at goal. Silva, with his arms behind his back, makes the block with his stomach, getting the wind knocked out of him. Brief stoppage for him to recover, but West Ham definitely with the upper hand in the last 10-15 minutes.

33min: Kante bursts through midfield and finds Pulisic, who turns well and drives the box against three defenders. Somehow he wiggles through, but there’s an unlucky touch and the ball runs away from him just as he was about to shoot.

32min: Chelsea with a chance to counter, Werner finding Abraham in the middle. But he has his pocket picked by Fornals and the opportunity is gone.

30min: Bowen has the ball in the net, but he’s called for a foul on Thiago Silva. Probably the right call. Chelsea all at sea at the moment.

28min: Werner and Pulisic nearly combine to get past a few defenders, but a high bounce results in a high boot getting called on the latter.

27min: Chelsea give the ball away in the defensive third and after a bit of a scramble, can clear for a corner. West Ham offside the process, but for some reason that’s not checked. Chelsea not convincing in defending the corner, but Soucek eventually hooks the ball well over the bar.

25min: West Ham with their first real spell of possession. Zouma makes a good clearance, but West Ham come again, switching towards Cresswell wide on the left. Azpi misses his interception and Cresswell has a chance to fire it across. But he misses all legs.

22min: West Ham free kick, wide right, level with the top of the box. Azpi heads clear, then Emerson. Pulisic picks up the ball and leads the counter, but West Ham recover well to stop the initial thrust.

21min: Another Chelsea corner on the right. Mount takes this one short, and Chelsea try to play it across, but lose it and West Ham can counter. Long ball down the right channel towards Haller comes off as Kante unfortunately slips, but Haller’s not too fast and Azpi gets back in time to cover across and clear.

20min: Emerson pumps one in, over the head of everyone. Azpi manages to get a head onto it on the far side, but he misjudges it a bit and West Ham can clear the high looping ball.

19min: Another set piece delivery from Mason Mount into the dangerzone, but West Ham able to clear.

15min: Abraham picks up a loose ball, and Chelsea able to create a move from there. Pulisic bursts past a couple to get in the area, looks like he could go down to try to win a penalty, but stays up. Chelsea play it around, and an Azpi pullback is eventually turned home by Abraham, but the ball had gone out of play before the cross and VAR confirms.

13min: Chelsea pressing for a second; Pulisic’s low cross is half-cleared. Chelsea work it back around, right to left to right, before Mount puts in a fantastic low hard ball across the six-yard box. Werner can’t quite stretch a leg out to tap it in.

12min: Chelsea win another corner, which Mount takes again. This time West Ham clear ahead of Abraham.

10min: GOALLLLL THIAGO SILVA!!! Chelsea corner, taken by Mount, finds Thiago Silva on an unchecked run, and he scores with a powerful header! 1-0, CHELSEA!

9min: Chilwell’s down again, and he won’t be able to continue. Emerson on.

7min: Jorginho’s called for a foul on Haller. West Ham take it quickly and find Rice with a well-designed play and run. He takes it around Mendy and finishes from a tight angle. But he’s called back for offside, and replays show that he was indeed off by a couple inches. Big letoff for Chelsea’s lapse of concentration.

6min: Chilwell up and gingerly hobbles off. Looks like he’s going to try to continue and run it off.

4min: Chilwell twists his right ankle accidentally, and he’s down in great pain. The match is stopped for treatment. Emerson’s up for a warm-up, as the magic spray is applied liberally.

3min: This time the cross is from the left, from Mount towards Abraham. West Ham clear only as far as Jorginho just outside the area. He goes for the first-time piledriver, but it blasts over the bar and hits the boards hanging off the front of the second tier.

2min: Chelsea look for Werner early with a cross from the right. Coufal clears.

KICK-OFF: The teams are out. Chelsea in all blue, with the white socks. West Ham in their usual combination as well. The players take a knee, and the visitors get us underway.

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Zero points in the last two games, and everyone else around us (except Spurs) picking up points makes this a must-win game. Midtable is definitely not where we want to be as we begin the second third of this Premier League season.

After a bit of extended rest and another five days before our next match, Lampard has selected a fairly experienced lineup, as Jorginho starts in what could be either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, with Abraham up top and Azpilicueta replacing the injured Reece James. Werner’s again listed on the left. Nine players on the bench as per the expanded regulations (but still only three allowed to be used).

Here we go!

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Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3):
Mendy | Chilwell, Silva, Zouma, Azpilicueta (c) | Mount, Jorginho, Kante | Werner, Abraham, Pulisic

Substitutes from: Arrizabalaga, Rudiger, Christensen, Emerson, Kovacic, Gilmour, Hudson-Odoi, Havertz, Giroud

West Ham starting lineup (4-3-3)
Fabianski | Cresswell, Ogbonna, Balbuena, Coufal | Rice, Soucek, Noble | Fornals, Haller, Bowen

Substitutes from: Martin, Randolph, Yarmolenko, Benrahma, Snodgrass, Dawson, Diop, Fredericks, Johnson

---

Date / Time: Monday, December 21, 2020, 20.00 GMT; 3pm EST; 1:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (on pitch); David Coote (VAR)

On TV: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); NBCSN, Universo (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)

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Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!