This article is part of our Match of the Week series.
Sunday's London Derby wasn't as interesting as expected. Instead, it was a one-sided rout, as Hammers manager David Moyes, who will leave the club at the end of the season, continued his struggles at Stamford Bridge. The sides ended up splitting the season series with the Hammers winning 3-1 at home earlier in the campaign. The win boosted Chelsea to seventh, overtaking Manchester United on goal differential, while West Ham fell to ninth.
Starting XIs
Neither team made a change in formation, with both sticking to a 4-2-3-1.
Chelsea only made one change in the starting XI, as Alfie Gilchrist fell to the bench in favor of Thiago Silva, while Trevoh Chalobah took Gilchrist's spot at right-back.
West Ham were unchanged, deploying the same 11 they faced Liverpool with.
Match Facts
It was clear that Chelsea were the more determined team, taking the front foot immediately and taking an early lead. It was a combination of Mauricio Pochettino's brilliant changing in tactics to stump the Hammer's highly defensive strategy and the highly energetic side of Chelsea facing a stagnant West Ham that led to the thumping.
Chelsea's build-up was much cleaner and more fluid than in weeks past. Although it appeared much of this was due to how West Ham plays. Instead of setting up a pivot through the middle of the field to the defensive midfielders, they focused the pivot out wide. The full-back would then either run up the flank to push the counterattack or a fast-paced movement forward. This was a fascinating but successful change from Chelsea, as they forced West Ham into an uncomfortable shape despite giving up the middle of the field and possibly the most significant part of their tactics in past games.
From midfield on, their play was very mixed, as they included multiple counterattacks and tiki-taka-based movement, trying to keep the Hammers on their toes. This is where the flying movement of the Blues against the tired-looking West Ham team took effect, as they couldn't keep up with the young and pacey Chelsea side.
It was possibly the most cohesive we've seen the Blues all season, as they weaved in and out of West Ham's defense with their one-two passing, creating heaps of space on the outside for movement forward. This is once again where Pochettino seemed to use West Ham's slim defensive shape to their advantage, typically overloading a side to give them the advantage in numbers, opening up a passing lane behind the defense after a Hammer full-back stepped up to the ball, leaving an open space to get into the box.
A massive part of the overload working to such success was due to the extra numbers committed forward. Typically, the Blues move forward in more of a 3-2-4-1 shape, with only one full-back pushing to the attack. However, with the highly defensive West Ham sitting back to defend, they choose to move both full-backs to the middle of the field to join Moises Caicedo, forming more of a 2-3-4-1, with only the two center-backs on the midfield line to stop the counterattack. All this did was help Chelsea, adding another player to carry the ball up or make a pass forward, with Marc Cucurella or Chalobah starting multiple attacks from that defensive midfielder spot, with the two combining for 14 passes into the final third, matching the same amount the normal midfielders in Conor Gallagher and Caicedo produced.
Defensively, Chelsea didn't do much due to West Ham's minimal chances created. When forced to set up, they stayed in their starting formation to defend, with the two defensive midfielders sliding back just a bit further to close the gaps for a through ball into the box. The attacking wingers would then slide back to help the full-backs, which appeared to be a pain in the Hammer's side due to their favoring of the wing when attacking, searching for a cross to the middle. However, the most prominent strategy was their pressing, as they kept perfect spacing and chose their moments well to force a magnitude of turnovers, leaving West Ham without the ball more often than not.
Moving to West Ham, there wasn't much to talk about after being engulfed by the Blue storm Sunday.
We start with the defense, as they remained in that portion of the field for much of the contest. It was the normal 5-4-1 formation when defending that we are used to, with Edson Alvarez joining the back four to make a backline of five. From here, they set up their block right around the edge of their box, plugging all gaps to stop through balls and force long shots or forced passes into the box. However, as described before, this did not go to plan after Chelsea decided to stretch the field, propelling play wide and allowing space into the final third by pulling the Hammers full-backs up the field.
The most prominent issue was their stagnant pressing, as they forced no pressure and allowed Chelsea to move at will. They invited too much pressure by not pressing every ball as they generally would, appearing to be burnt out after a long season and the same 11 playing almost every game this year.
Moving to the attack, there was barely any from West Ham, mainly gaining their chances off of set pieces and not counterattacks like they typically do. The few times they did get the ball forward, it was usually a rushed movement, with no build-up and instead being fueled by a player's random run forward into the final third without being dispossessed. Michail Antonio provided most of this movement despite only ending up with one shot. In the end, their attacking play was highlighted by Jarrod Bowen hitting the crossbar three times, summing up the terrible day the team had.
The final takeaway from this contest is that Pochettino may have figured out a way to get this extremely young team functioning at full power, making them a dangerous force heading into next season. On the other end, it may be time for Moyes to stray away from the defensive tactics, now having gone 16 games since their last clean sheet despite that being their priority.
It was dominance from Chelsea, as they put up a five-star performance. The final stat line would finish in Chelsea's favor, registering 69-percent possession, six big chances, 25 shots and 4.14 xG, compared to West Ham's 31 percent, two, 13 and 0.93, respectively.
Man of the Match
This week was slightly more challenging than most to pick the recipient, as Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson had some of their best matches in a blue kit. In the end, it will go to Jackson, as he did contribute just that little bit more while being slightly more clinical than Madueke. Jackson played the full 90, notching two goals and an assist, giving him 13 and five on the season, respectively. He wound up with seven shots, and four of the five that weren't blocked ended up on net while notching 1.75 xG. The forward wasn't done yet, though, adding on some stats in the playmaking department with seven of his 11 duels won, five passes into the final third and nine touches in the opposing box.
Upcoming Fixtures
With only three games left in the season, Chelsea ends on a slightly easy note, only facing one team in the top half of the table. They take on Nottingham Forest next week before finishing the season with Brighton and 10th-place Bournemouth.
West Ham only has two games left in the campaign, one very easy and one of much higher difficulty. It starts easier with Luton Town next week before they end the season facing Manchester City, who will be eager to claim their fourth straight title.
Looking Ahead
Chelsea now finds themselves with something to fight for after the win, as they are only two points off of a likely Conference League spot amid a Manchester City win in the FA Cup. However, they will need some help, as they need a Newcastle loss while winning all three of their final matches. It's still possible after the terrible start to the season, which is hard to believe, but they will need to be perfect to reach that goal.
As for West Ham, they don't have anything to fight for at the moment, purely playing for confidence and to keep the home fans happy. There may be some implications for manager David Moyes as he turns his eyes towards a new coaching job after agreeing to depart West Ham.
Gameweek 37
With only two gameweeks left in the season, we are nearing the end of this season's Match of the Week series. We have a solid contest for the penultimate article of the campaign, with Aston Villa and Liverpool facing off. Liverpool is still fighting for the Premier League title, although their situation looks dire, with much help needed to overtake Arsenal and Manchester City. Aston Villa is fighting for their spot in the Champions League next season, but a win against Liverpool would secure their place, with Tottenham needing Villa to lose their remaining matches while winning their last three games to push for that UCL spot.
