After not being able to win in any of their previous seven Premier League games, West Ham United were coming into the game with high hopes of turning their season back on the right track.

Meanwhile, their opponents, Chelsea, with ex-West Ham player Frank Lampard in charge, were comfortably sitting in fourth place, just three points behind Leicester City.

Aaron Cresswell opened the scoring in the 48th minute, ultimately giving his side all three points.

Story of the game

The first chance of the game fell to the Hammers. Cresswell's cross found Michail Antonio in the middle of the box, but he didn't connect well with the ball and sent it over the bar.

The next five minutes were all under Chelsea's command. Christian Pulisic tried testing David Martin, but the debutant goalkeeper held onto all three shots that came his way.

On the 15th minute mark, Chelsea came close to creating a dangerous opportunity yet again, but Martin calmly caught the high ball and brought it down.

The next chance came again for the Blues. Pulisic turned away from Robert Snodgrass and played a one-two with Mason Mount but Ryan Fredericks was there to clear the danger.

But they weren't stopping and in quick succession, Reece James and Kurt Zouma tried beating the Hammers' keeper but failed.

And in response, after a great pass from Felipe Anderson, the ball was whipped in by Snodgrass towards Antonio, but Kepa Arrizabalaga cleared with a great reaction save.

With five minutes of the first half to go, Pulisic tried causing danger by turning Fredericks in and out, but the right-back managed to deal with him well.

Only three minutes later the best chance of the game so far fell into Chelsea's hands.

Mateo Kovacic released a strike from the edge of the box which was saved but spilled by Martin, who then saved Olivier Giroud's follow-up before grabbing the ball away from under Kovacic's feet.

In a last-ditch attempt of scoring before the break, James put a fantastic early ball into the box towards Giroud, but Angelo Ogbonna managed to steer it away from the Frenchman and Pulisic who tried closing the cross down at the far post.

But despite finishing the first half on a high, the hosts came out of the dressing room on a low and allowed their rivals to capitalise on that.

Cresswell made a great run overlapping Pablo Fornals, chopped inside and finished brilliantly on his right foot straight into the bottom right corner.

The Hammers didn't stop at that, nearly scoring their second after Fabian Balbuena's header was firstly saved, and then Antonio couldn't steer the ball into the net from three yards out.

And as West Ham thought they've scored the second, VAR came in to play to rule out Antonio's effort for a handball.

The final fifteen minutes were all Chelsea, but they didn't manage to equalise, leaving West Ham to come away with all three points.

Takeaways

Michail Antonio's return

After considerably lacking pace and power in the attacking formation, the comeback of Antonio might just be the blessing West Ham desperately needed.

Another great performance only shows how dangerous he is when fit and on form.

Manuel Pellegrini's substitutions

After weeks of unsuccessful tactics and substitutions, it looks like the Chilean might've finally found his ground.

All three of his subs were very well thought out just like the set-up of his team.

Is this a sign of what's to come?

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