Timo Werner scored the only goal as Chelsea overcame the 10-men of West Ham 1-0 at the London Stadium.
Werner’s strike on the cusp of half time proved to be the winner for the Blues as the Hammers’ Fabian Balbuena was given a straight red card late on.
Victory in the London derby ensured the Blues remain in the Champions League spots and crucially opened up a three point gap to their opponents West Ham who remain in fifth position.
David Moyes Fumes over Red Card decision
The Hammers lost crucial ground in their bid to break into the top four with the defeat and David Moyes felt his side’s chances were further damaged due to poor refereeing decisions.
Moyes said: “The red card changed the game as far as the last 10 to 15 minutes were concerned.
“I think it’s a rubbish decision, a decision made from a person who has never played the game, it would only be someone who doesn’t know the game and hasn’t played it before to understand.
“Balbuena has kicked through the ball and I don’t think for one minute that there’s a bit of malice in that where he was trying to catch Chilwell.
“But when you give that, you look at the scenario a few minutes later between Vladimir Coufal and Antonio Rudiger because it was a very similar challenge but nothing was done about it.
“So where is the consistent message? I don’t see how it was a red card.”
Blues look to dominate in the top-four clash
Chelsea started the stronger and forced the issue early on as Werner and Mason Mount caused the makeshift Hammers’ back line issues.
The pair combined in the fourth minute for the first notable effort but the German miscued his effort over the bar.
Mount then showed wonderful control to evade the chasing West Ham defenders but his left-footed strike was comfortably saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
The Blues continued to push forward in search of the opener and Werner turned provider for Pulisic but the American shot from straight at the Polish keeper from a promising position inside the box.
The Hammers started to grow into the game but fell behind just two minutes before the break as Werner began the Chelsea attack by holding off Angelo Ogbonna before arriving at the perfect time in the box to turn home Ben Chilwell’s low cross.
West Ham looked to react and started the second half strongly pinning the Blues back in their own half but failed to penetrate the sturdy defence
Despite being under pressure it was Chelsea who had the better chances and Mount’s long distance effort forced Fabianski to flap at the ball and the rebound fell perfectly for Werner to double his tally but the German skewed the ball wide with the goal gaping.
The Hammers’ only notable effort came on the hour mark when the in form Jesse Lingard volleyed from the edge of the box had but the ball fell narrowly wide of the post.
Chelsea responded and Mount once again tried his luck from range forcing another flying save from Fabianski to prevent the 25-yard effort from nestling in the top corner.
The result was out beyond doubt when West Ham were reduced to 10-men following a lengthy VAR check and Fabian Balbuena was then given a straight red card for a high foot on Ben Chilwell.
The man advantage allowed Chelsea to see out the match relatively comfortably and secure a 16th clean sheet in 21 matches under Thomas Tuchel.
