A late, controversial penalty from Cesc Fabregas saved a point for Chelsea as they played out a 2-2 draw with West Ham United.
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Ruben Loftus-Cheek was tripped by Michail Antonio with the initial foul looking to have been outside the area but Robert Madley pointed to the spot and it was Fabregas who stepped up and had no hesitations as he converted the spot kick. Many clubs are interested in him – nearly all of the Bundesliga want him to stay there because he is a great professional, great player and he is the captain of Borussia Monchengladbach. However, it did little to improve results and despite Hiddink not having lost a single league game since taking over, Chelsea have found it very hard to improve on the form they showed under the Portuguese manager.
On loan midfield playmaker Manuel Lanzini produced a piece a magic with a magnificent 25 yards striker after 15 minutes to put the Hammers ahead – before Blues midfielder Cesc Fabregas’s equally brilliant free kick before the interval put the game back on level terms.
Undefeated in their last seven matches, West Ham came into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford and came out all guns blazing.
Like many, Bilic traces the troubles of last season’s Premier League champions to August 8 and the opening-day draw with Swansea, the repercussions of which are ongoing.
“To concede a goal that late is gutting, no matter how you concede it”, Bilic said.
West Ham had the better of the first half and took a deserved lead through Manuel Lanzini, only for an error by Winston Reid in injury time to give Chelsea a free-kick that Fabregas curled home.
Their Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint Germain, followed by last weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final defeat against Everton, brought an abrupt end to Hiddink’s hopes of marking his second spell as interim manager with silverware. “When there is doubt, benefit should go in favour of the attacking team”.
“Our target now for the rest of the season is to see if we can get a European spot”, he said. We fought right until the end and we have to continue like this in the remainder of the season.
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Bilic added: “We could have two points more”.
Slaven Bilic: “Chelsea have struggled to find the consistency although, under Guus Hiddink, they have climbed to mid-table and sit nine points behind us”. Carroll tucked the ball pasted Thibaut Courtois and West Ham were momentarily in the top four.
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“But it was a very important period for us to gain confidence and character because we weren’t losing games”.
