West Ham 1-1 Chelsea
by Paul Donovan
at the London Stadium

WEST HAM and Chelsea will both feel robbed by VAR in this keenly fought derby at the London Stadium.

Ten minutes from time, a free kick swung over from the left by Emerson was met by Declan Rice, only to see Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga force the ball out. Tomas Soucek, though, was on hand to drive the loose ball into the net.

The subsequent VAR investigation ruled that Rice had stepped (by inches) into an offside position as the ball came over.

In the earlier fixture at Stamford Bridge, West Ham were denied a last minute Maxwel Cornet equaliser by the technology - a decision that has since been cited as one of the most glaring errors of the season.

But this time Chelsea were equally aggrieved, when what looked like a penalty, late in the game,  was denied by VAR.

The shot from Conor Gallagher, seemed to be saved, with his hand, by Soucek, but no penalty was awarded. 

Up to the late fireworks, the game had been fairly even, though if Chelsea had not fallen foul of the offside rule twice, early on, they could have run out easy winners.

Comfortable in possession, Chelsea constantly threatened to slice through the West Ham rearguard. The home side were restricted to playing their counter attacking game.

Chelsea took the lead on the quarter hour, when an Enzo Fernandez cross from the left was cooly volleyed home by Joao Felix.

West Ham were, then, unlucky when a Michail Antonio back heel, from a Said Benrahma cross, went straight to the keeper.

The home side were, though, not to be denied, when minutes later, a cross from Vladimir Coufal was headed on by Jarrod Bowen for Emerson to finish at the back post 

West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski was then busy, pushing wide a shot from Noni Madueke, then dealing similarly, with a free kick.

Kai Havertz then headed over a Ben Chilwell cross.

All said and done, the draw was a fair result - all VAR considered.

West Ham manager, David Moyes was pleased how his side clawed their way back into the game. "Chelsea were a lot better in the first half and it was important we didn't go further behind," said Moyes. "It was a good point."

Chelsea manager, Graham Potter, felt the performance was a step forward. He explained how he is balancing getting players back from injury and fitting in new signings (a conundrum familiar to Moyes).

The Chelsea manager felt Soucek did handle the ball, so there should have been a penalty.