Sports

Chelsea snap losing streak with 3-0 result against West Ham

Sports Desk, Dec 21 (efe-epa).- Chelsea rebounded from consecutive losses to beat West Ham United 3-0 Monday and overtake Tottenham Hotspur for fifth place in the Premier League.

But the contest was less lopsided than the score would indicate, as the Hammers had two first-half goals disallowed and remained within one until they conceding twice to Tammy Abraham in the space of two minutes.

Though he will be happy with the points, Blues coach Frank Lampard is unlikely to find his squad’s defensive performance satisfactory after watching West Ham dominate the run of play for much of the second half.

The visitors thought they had jumped ahead when Declan Rice put the ball past Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in the 7th minute, but the goal was taken down because Rice was offside.

Three minutes later, Thiago Silva put the Blues up, heading-in Mason Mount’s corner. The team has reaped eight goals from corner kicks 14 matches into the 2020-2021 season.

Once in front, the hosts retreated and West Ham got plenty on the ball. Yet the Hammers faltered in the final third, failing to get a single shot on target.

Abraham doubled the Chelsea lead in the 78th minute and extended it to 3-0 in the 80th, hammering in the rebound after West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski swatted away Christian Pulisic’s header from close range.

The Blues go to 25 points, the same as Spurs, but are ahead of their London rivals thanks to a better goal difference, while West Ham slip to 10th place on 21 points.

Earlier Monday, Burnley escaped the Premier League drop zone with a 2-1 home win over Wolverhampton that also marked the first time since February that the team scored more than one goal at Turf Moor.

With just six goals in their first 12 league matches, to say that the Clarets have struggled on the attack would be an understatement.

Monday was a different story.

Despite conceding 64 percent possession to the visitors, Burnley had better chances than Wolves, who remain the more talented side on paper even without injured top striker Raul Gimenez.

Ashley Barnes put the hosts ahead in the 35th minute, converting a Charlie Taylor cross to break a year-plus scoring drought. Chris Wood made it 2-0 in the 51st minute after Wolves failed to clear a free kick.

Wood also forced a stop from Wolverhampton keeper Rui Patricio, while only the cross-bar denied Burnley’s Josh Brownhill early in the second half.

Wolves got a consolation goal in the 89th minute courtesy of 18-year-old Fabio Silva.

Coming on late as a substitute, the Portuguese forward drew a penalty in the Burnley box and then converted from the spot.

The Clarets climbed to 16th in the Premier League with 13 points and they have a game in hand on the four teams below them.

Wolverhampton are 11th on 20 points. EFE

jv/dr

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