Football-Manchester City peaked as Chelsea suffered defeat to West Ham

Soccer Football – English Premier League – West Ham United v Chelsea – London Stadium, London, England – December 4, 2021 West Ham United’s Arthur Masuaku celebrates scoring his third goal with teammates Photo action via Reuters / Peter Cziborra

December 4, 2021

LONDON (Reuters) – Chelsea paid dearly for a 3-2 defeat to West Ham United as first Liverpool, then Manchester City, sidelined them in Saturday’s Premier League title race, with Man City first end of the lead day. this season.

Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea started the day narrowly ahead and took the lead twice at the London Stadium, only to be stunned by a late substitute defender Arthur Masuaku’s goal.

It looked as though Liverpool had let Chelsea take the lead as their subsequent clash at Wolverhampton Wanderers went on in stoppage time and remained goalless.

But Divock Origi, making his 100th appearance as a substitute for Liverpool, caught up with Mohamed Salah’s cross to seal the winning goal over Wolves keeper Jose Sa in the 94th minute.

On their opening game late in the day, Manchester City overcame Watford in a 3-1 win at Vicarage Road with Raheem Sterling paving the way before Bernardo Silva scored a brace.

Chelsea appeared to have taken control of their game in the 28th minute when Thiago Silva headed home from a Mason Mount corner but the European champions awarded the hosts a 40th minute penalty when Jorginho made His goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was under poor pressure. back and forth.

Mendy beat Jarrod Bowen for a penalty that was converted by Manuel Lanzini.

Mount restored Chelsea’s lead with a superb volley four minutes later only for West Ham to equalize early in the second half when Bowen finished hard and low.

Masuaku scored the home side’s equalizer in fourth place in the 87th minute with a pass on goal.

That means Chelsea drop to third place with 33 points from 15 games, one point behind Liverpool and two behind Manchester City. West Ham has 27 points.

“We’re not good enough in the details at the moment,” Tuchel told reporters. “We made too many big mistakes.”

Wolves defended firmly against a Liverpool in unstoppable scoring form.

But all of their hard work fell short as Origi showed how he can be a high-impact substitute, with his winner sparking celebrations. passionately on the Liverpool bench.

“It’s clear: when you don’t score, you just keep going and that’s what we did,” said manager Jurgen Klopp.

“And then Divock Origi, the legend, came and finished it for us. I love it.”

There was no such drama for City as they claimed their fifth straight win and 31 in the calendar year, surpassing their previous club record.

“There are always things we have to improve on but right now the players are playing at a really good level,” said coach Pep Guardiola. “We scored three nice goals and we could have scored more.”

Newcastle United’s wait for their first win of the season came to an end after Callum Wilson’s goal gave them a 1-0 win over Burnley.

The win moves Newcastle to the bottom of the table on goal difference, ahead of Norwich City, who play Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Brighton & Hove Albion drew for the eighth time this season as Neal Maupay saved a point in a 1-1 draw against Southampton. Maupay scored in the eighth minute of injury time to deny the Saints a fourth win of the season after Armando Broja gave them a first-half lead.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)