Hammers get bangered

West Ham were literally bangered by Chelsea yesterday as their 2-0 defeat was over-shadowed by missiles thrown at former player Frank Lampard who netted his 200^th Chelsea goal against the team his learned his trade for ...

Lampard opened the scoring with a neat chip over goalkeeper Jussi Jasskelainen who had saved Juan Mata’s shot first time round. Lampard’s rebound shot however was too much to handle for the Finnish keeper, and it was 1-0 in a matter of minutes.

Ecstatic with his 200^th Chelsea goal, the England midfielder ran over towards the away support in celebration, who as always taunted him throughout the game with chants regarding his weight. With his weight in mind, a comical Hammer’s fan decided to throw a hot dog at Lampard, amongst coins. And these missiles have lead to further investigations that could see West Ham get fined again.

The taunts didn’t stop there from either club as John Terry stupidly decided to warm up in front on the West Ham support, bending over and showing his bottom to the travelling side. With that the Hammer’s faithful roared in anger, again throwing more missiles at the Englishman who the labelled a racist and the son of a thief. Terry simply responded in holding an imaginary trophy to taunt the Hammers who haven’t had the greatest of success over the years.

The game was rocked by awful refereeing decisions which the hammrs fans labelled as match turning as the referee ruled out a perfectly legitimate Andy Carroll goal for  a foul on David Luiz. The referee then ruled out a potential goal as tiny winger Matt Jarvis ran clean through on goal, but before long he was hauled back as he was penalised for a foul. Rafa Benitez’s tactics were clear here, and that was for the defenders to get anything they could out of West Ham’s rough style of play. Obviously diving, the Chelsea defenders got away with it and it worked, as they kept themselves a clean sheet.

The Hammers were looking to do the double over Chelsea after they overcame the champions of Europe in the reverse fixture, 3-1. The maestro in that unbelievable win was Mohammed Diame who started the games this time around due to a lack of depth in the Hammer’s squad courtesy of injuries which have kept star players such as Mark Noble and Kevin Nolan out.

At halftime it came to the dismay of the whole West ham following as manager Sam Allardyce took off fan favourite Diame for Matthew Taylor. With Diame being so highly rated, the Hammers faithful were in uproar in regards to the substitution.

The second goal of the game came in the second half with a beautifully dazzling Eden Hazard run which saw him drift into the box from the right wing before hitting a well hit shot into the bottom right of the West Ham goal. The Hammers were again in uproar as they watched their side slide even further into trouble.

Unless West ham begin to pick up points in there next few games they could slip into a relegation dog fight, and although it is highly unlikely they will be relegated, the run in to the end of the season could be a nervy one for both the team and fans alike.

So far this season the Hammers have pulled off wonders to get themselves where they are in the league and being 13^th they are the best of the three teams that got promoted last season with Reading and Southampton both deep in their worries.

Ben Edkins (@benedkins12)