West Ham show their fighting spirit as they shrug off another VAR blow controversy to rock Chelsea

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Giuseppe Muro2 July 2020

It would have been easy for West Ham to let their heads drop. After a contentious VAR decision cost them at Tottenham last week, David Moyes was starting to feel like everything was going against them when Tomas Soucek had a goal controversially ruled out last night.

VAR official Jon Moss took close to four minutes to judge Michail Antonio was lying in an offside position and in Kepa Arrizabalaga’s line of vision as Soucek bundled the ball home.

It was a decision which left Moyes “spewing” about the sense of injustice. But instead of feeling sorry for themselves, West Ham showed their mettle as they secured a priceless win in their fight against relegation.

The result moved the Hammers three points clear of the bottom three on a night when Chelsea missed a chance to move into third and were given a reminder of the consistency they need before they can challenge Liverpool and Manchester City.

Andriy Yarmolenko’s late goal gave West Ham their first victory since the restart after an inspired move from Moyes to bring on the Ukrainian with 12 minutes remaining.

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The way the Hammers battled back after their first-half injustice felt like a significant moment in their season. They showed the sort of resilience that has been missing too often this season.

Antonio was outstanding as a lone striker and terrorised Chelsea centre-backs Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen all night. January signing Jarrod Bowen impressed again and Angelo Ogbonna was brilliant at the back on his return to the team.

Moyes, whose side are now 16th in the table, knows there is still work to be done avoid the drop, but he will hope this result can act as a springboard ahead of a winnable run of games. The victory dispels some of the doom and gloom around the club and sets West Ham up for the run-in.

Their next four games, against Newcastle (a), Burnley (h), Norwich (a) and Watford (h), offer a chance to secure their safety before their final two matches, against Manchester United (a) and Aston Villa (h). Moyes is targeting 10 points from those fixtures.

As for Chelsea, Lampard admitted the loss was an indication of how far his side must progress before they can mount a sustained title challenge.

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Rudiger and Christensen endured a difficult night, the Blues again struggled defensively at set-pieces and Marcos Alonso failed to track Yarmolenko for the winner.

Gary Neville, commentating for Sky Sports, said Alonso “did not bother” to run back. “Run back as fast as you can when you lose the ball,” said Neville. “You learn that at the age of six.”

On the day Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech officially became Chelsea players, the defeat showed why Lampard wants to sign Ben Chilwell and probably needs a centre-back, too.

Moyes, meanwhile, said this week he wants the chance to “build a new history” at the club, who marked their 125th anniversary on Monday.

Whether West Ham stay up will determine if he gets that opportunity. If they continue to play like this, then that prospect looks likely.