Sigh. We let ourselves down there,but that was never a foul on carrol..he totally bought that freekick..azpi never touched him.haih

Pedro in!!!we can do thiiiisssssss

Eat that you lying cheating west ham playeeeerrrsssssss jyeaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Go and play act some more jyeaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

Costaaaaaaaa what a goaaallllllllllllll!!!!!!!

We needed this win. I love how conte just completely went for it after we conceded the equaliser. No hesitation at all in throwing on michy,pedro and moses to try grab all 3 points.

West ham were practically invisible for all but their sloppy and ugly equaliser. We shut them down in attack so brilliantly,its a bit hard to believe really. Payet did come on and make a difference, but even then we marshalled him fairly well.

we totally owned them in midfield and it was a joy to watch. matic, kante, and oscar were harassing them to no end, putting in some cracking challenges. this is how we needed to approach a big and muscular west ham team, and conte got it spot on. i miss this 'aggressive version of matic, whose not easily shrugged off the ball and isn't afraid of crunching into hard but fair challenges. obviously conte has said something to him and its worked. as long as he keeps putting in those tackles and maintains possession, he's a shoe-in for a starting berth. oscar was great in this game but anyone who's followed his blue career path knows he tends to have his bad batches, and when they come i hope conte doesn't hesitate to either whip him back into form or simply drop him.

that triple substitution where willian, hazard, and oscar were all hauled off to make way for pedro, moses and bats was a significant milestone in terms of the manager not getting caught up in his 'favourites' or 'invincibles' so to speak. granted it did come a bit late and was a reaction to them pulling a goal back, but that boldness and tactical flexibility was what i really liked. in the end it was bats who assisted diego, and just before that moses had a lovely cross which was just cleared and pedro had a snapshot right after. everyone pulled their weight and was eager to impress the gaffer, and long may this continue! even hazard put away that penalty with conviction, and its worth mentioning how lively and dangerous he looked. from the dribbles, to spreading play and that curled attempt right before HT. its just such a far cry from the eden of last season, especially after the carneiro fallout.

apart from that, the ref had a bit of a shocker for both sides. the new dissent rule seemed to only apply to costa and azpi while most of the west ham players were spared, then we had kante's desperate lunge on payet which wasn't punished, but he received a cheap booking for a nothing challenge within the first 5 minutes of the game. apart from that costa was a bit fortunate after that mistimed tackle on adrian but the ball was there to be won and he went for it, not in a malicious manner. in between that, both sets of players had some poor challenges to stem counter-attacks but weren't punished, and i can't believe the officials fell for that non-existent foul from azpi on carrrol which lead to their equaliser. the refereeing was quite literally all over the place.

note: thank God we're back playing at a 'saner' 10pm on a saturday night vs watford. can't wait for that one!

carrol was on top form.


lolwhat


sheesh it really was an off day for the officials. can't imagine if they actually scored from that!

Ivanovic back to his old tricks again. Messed up two simple passes already. Haih.

Better tempo in the second half,but I'm interested to see how conte changes things if it stays like this.

Where was the marking? That was down Iva's side as usual. Haih.

That was a clear penalty!!! Damn it. Here comes bats!two up top now.

We needed cesc much earlier

Michhhhhyyyyyuuu the poaaacheerrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

Piss poor layoff from ivanovic. As usual. At this rate I'd rather gamble with aina.

Cosssttaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought he took it a bit too wide,but that was a brilliant finish! fabregas the game changer shows he should always start if he's fit and on form.

Arrgghhhh bats hits the posttttttt

Our first come from behind win under conte,nicely done. Bats makes a good case to start the next game,but costa is really on fire with his finishing as well as his shenanigans

Conte strongly believes that the cesc and matic combo lacks balance / defensive solidity and after last year's debacle,you can't really blame him. To be fair I think oscar did alright today,he had two brilliant crosses which weren't converted. If those went in,we would be singing his praises.

I like how he's not sticking to willian and just banking on his POTY status. Pedro deservedly got to start,but unfortunately failed to make his case as a first teamer. hopefully moses gets his chance next. Would love to see how he does when given time to perform.