But his penalty two minutes into the second half put Chelsea ahead, and though West Ham equalised, Diego Costa’s later victor gave Chelsea a deserved three points.
Advertisement
With the first round of the Premier League done and dusted now, let’s take a look at the 5 talking points of the game between Chelsea and West Ham.
In midfield, Nemanja Matic has been given the nod to start and will play alongside N’Golo Kante.
His manager was delighted with it, running around passionately, even more so when the final whistle blew, Chelsea suffering some scares in injury time as Courtois was on hand to block from Payet.
Unlike previous year, we also had the requisite amount of luck to make up for not being able to turn our dominance into more goals.
“From our point of view we are not happy with that”.
Diego Costa is a great player and I know that he is a fantastic finisher, but I still think Diego can improve a lot. “I saw Diego put the pressure on the goalkeeper and tried to stop, in my opinion the referee took the right decision”.
“There is a great intensity in the Premier League and it’s very physical”.
Costa was largely isolated during the tie and looked increasingly frustrated as he endured a game where he made a number of mistakes in terms of passing, creating opportunities and decision making.
“Nine times out of 10 you see that challenge and get one (a yellow card) – unfortunately this was the 10th time”.
Conte and Oscar were then both demanding a penalty when the Brazilian dispossessed Mark Noble and charged into the box before going down as Winston Reid challenged, but referee Anthony Taylor waved away their claims.
“Today I’m pleased for the attitude and behaviour of my players and the victory is, for me, deserved”.
Hazard stepped up and sent the ball down the middle and into the roof of the net to give Conte his first league goal since taking over as manager.
Advertisement
He added: “We were so close against a top side”. “Apart from the first 15 minutes til we equalised, they were much better than us”. As energized as the Blues looked, pressing high and winning the ball in unsafe areas, they often lacked ideas going forward, and struggled to create clear-cut chances on goal.
