West Ham 0 Chelsea 0: Hammers halt Maurizio Sarri's winning start to life in the Premier League

Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_23 September 2018

Chelsea's 100 per cent start to the season came to an end after their London derby against West Ham finished goalless.

Maurizio Sarri was looking to become just the third manager, after Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, to start his Premier League career with six consecutive wins, but saw his side struggle to break down a resolute West Ham side at the London Stadium.

Manuel Pellegrini made just one change to the side which earned the Hammers' first three points of the season last week at Everton, bringing in Michail Antonio as a makeshift centre forward in place of the injured Marko Arnautovic.

Eden Hazard and Mateo Kovacic returned to the Chelsea side, after being left at home for Thursday night's Europa League win against PAOK.

Sarri was denied a sixth straight win in the league.
AFP/Getty Images

Looking to avoid a third successive home defeat at the start of a league season for the first time ever, West Ham started brightly before Jorginho began to dictate the tempo for the visitors.

For all their possession though, Chelsea struggled to create clear chances, and it was Antonio up the other end, who missed the half's two best opportunities, first firing over when put through by Felipe Anderson and then blasting straight at Kepa from close range

Fabianski denied Morata after the Spaniard came off the bench.
Getty Images

The second half began in much the same vein, with Chelsea struggling to break down a compact home defence, but Antonio looking increasingly isolated.

Sarri threw on Alvaro Morata, and the Spaniard almost made an immediate impact, only to see his lofted finish hit Lukasz Fabianski square in the face.

Andriy Yarmolenko then wasted a glorious chance to win it, heading wide from six yards after a sensational ball from substitute Robert Snodgrass.

Ross Barkley almost scored a last minute winner with a terrific curling effort but West Ham held on for their first home point of the season, to leave Liverpool clear at the top of the Premier League table.

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