Former Liverpool and Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing has said that his team were guilty of missing chances that cost them the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea. West Ham took on the West Londoners in London derby at Upton Park.
It was expected to be a very tough match for Chelsea given that they have struggled this ground in recent years, but they managed a quite comfortable 3-0 win. They did not have to stretch themselves throughout the encounter because West Ham offered little in front of goal.
Downing has said that this was largely due to West Ham’s inefficiency in front of goal. They had a couple of chances to be ahead in the match, but failed to take it. Sam Allardyce came into the match without his first choice striker Andy Carroll fit for the encounter.
As a result, he has been using midfielder Kevin Nolan as the front man in recent matches. It had little effect against the centre back pairing of Gary Cahill and John Terry, as they managed to win most of the balls in the air.
“We gave Chelsea a goal start, and I thought it was quite even up until then” he told Unibet. “They got the penalty, Lampard rarely misses and from then on it was hard for us because they keep the ball and have players who can hurt you. We’ve played ever so well in a lot of games but the problem is that we’ve missed chances at important times. We’ve got Fulham and Palace in the next two games – two big games and we need the points,” said the midfielder.
Downing was the only bright aspect for West Ham on the night, as he threatened Chelsea with his pace. Ivanovic had been beaten a couple of times at right back by the former England international.