West Ham United’s survival bid was handed a huge boost last night as David Moyes’ men ran out 3-2 winners against Chelsea.
The victory saw them move three points clear the drop zone, and the Hammers will fancy their chances of retaining their top-flight status given their subsequent fixtures.
Chelsea opened the scoring from the spot via Willian three minutes from the break, and it left West Ham fuming as VAR had chalked off Tomas Soucek’s goal minutes earlier.
Michail Antonio was adjudged to be offside and in Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s line of vision, and the decision almost cost the hosts.
It also got on the nerves of BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, and he reacted thus on Twitter:
Even before the decision I’ve started to really loathe VAR. what are they doing?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 1, 2020
They’ll claim he’s impeding the keeper’s view, which he’s not. Utterly absurd. https://t.co/zTgzAZaJlT
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 1, 2020
West Ham battled back, though, with Soucek doing the damage to Chelsea’s backline again on the stroke of half-time.
The hosts took the lead through Antonio six minutes after play restarted but were pegged back 20 minutes later as Willian drew the Blues level following a deft free-kick.
Frank Lampard’s men were dealt a huge blow right at the end of the clash, with Andriy Yarmolenko coming off the bench to score and snatch all three points for the Hammers on the 89th minute.
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