it is supposed to be to chelsea’s advantage that they have to leave london only three times in what remains of the premier league campaign really? are we sure about that? arsene wenger always thought it was harder for a london club to win the league because there were so many derbies, and this match rather supported his theory chelsea still collected three points but, by jove, it was tough their defence was stretched in a way that it was not at wembley on sunday and, by the end, chelsea were happy to hoof the ball forward or run it into corners to take time out of the game eden hazard celebrates putting chelsea a goal to the good after nodding ramires' cross past west ham keeper adrian  adrian dives in vain as hazard's header sails past the spanish shot stopper and into the back of west ham's net  hazard leads the celebrations as chelsea took another step towards winning the barclays premier league title for the fourth time  time stands still as hazard hammers his header home at upton park to seal the game in chelsea's favour  the chelsea players applaud the travelling fans after clinching another victory as they maintained their five point lead at the top  west ham (4 3 1 2): adrian 7; jenkinson 6, tomkins 65, reid (collins 7, 6), cresswell 65; noble 65, nolan 65; downing 7, kouyate 7 (nene 87), valencia 7; sakho 7 subs not used: jarvis, o'brien, demel, jaaskelainen, song manager: sam allardyce 65  booked: kouyate, collins, nolan  chelsea (4 3 3): courtois 75; ivanovic 7, cahill 7, terry 7, azpilicueta 65; zouma 7, fabregas 7; ramires 7, oscar 7 (willian 74), hazard 8 (remy 96); costa 7 (drogba 90+3) subs not used: cech, luis, cuadrado, loftus cheek manager: jose mourinho 7  booked: terry, hazard, fabregas  goal: hazard 22  referee: andre marriner 7  attendance: 34,927  ratings by neil ashton  eden hazard finished off a well worked chelsea move to score the only goal of the game check out more stats from our match zone  west ham have won a single league fixture since christmas, but it did not look like it here they had chances, real chances, to wrest the points from the league leaders, and it says much that chelsea’s prime performers were once again the central defensive core of john terry, gary cahill and thibaut courtois in goal and eden hazard, of course always hazard he scored the goal, never stopped wanting or carrying the ball, and left the field hobbling, as always, due to a standard battering not that west ham were excessively dirty — chelsea had four bookings to west ham’s three — more that a player of hazard’s ability is always going to attract a certain kind of attention the group hug that terry, cahill, courtois and branislav ivanovic shared at the end should have included hazard; in his own way, he is as hard as any of them if chelsea maintain their supremacy, this is one of those games that will be remembered the day the title is won, one of those they shall not pass performances, all bodies flying, desperate lunges and the ball in row z if needs be west ham were left banging their heads against a wall — no wild metaphor in the case of cheikhou kouyate, who ran face first into the back of terry’s skull late in the second half both required treatment, but one came off considerably worse hazard runs to ramires after the pair combined for chelsea's opening strike which gave jose mourinho's men a vital victory  adrian makes an acrobatic save to keep west ham in the game as chelsea threaten to extend their advantage  adrian keeps out another chelsea attack as he thwarts diego costa on a busy night for west ham's goalkeeper  west ham have now failed to score in six of their last seven premier league matches against chelsea, including the last five in a row eden hazard’s last four premier league goals have come away from home after a run of 11 consecutive home goals  it is fair to say if they are ever pondering a fresh material to use in the construction of those black boxes in aircraft, terry’s cranium may have to be considered alas, diafra sakho it is hard to remember a striker getting in so many excellent positions for such paltry return he knows where to be, he just lacks the clinical touch when he gets there and, thwarted by his own failings and the excellence of courtois, west ham drew a blank yes, chelsea could have scored more, too this was not a one sided game — but we expect chelsea pressure on the goal they have world class finishers and magicians in midfield the surprise was west ham going toe to toe with them, particularly, in the second half right up until the last minute they were still heaping on pressure chelsea have matches at queens park rangers and arsenal, and a home fixture against crystal palace, to come, so nobody should underestimate the challenge to their championship ambition contained in a london derby this was one of the hardest fought wins of chelsea’s season — every bit as much of a proving ground as a wet wednesday in wigan, or whatever northern outpost is the current venue for popular cliche hazard is the premier league's most fouled player this season and he goes down after some attention from mark noble  hazard writhes around on the boleyn ground pitch in agony but continued to play on for the title favourites  thibaut courtois parries the ball with his foot as nolan closes in during a heart in mouth moment for chelsea's rearguard  courtois was once again called in to action as west ham appeal in vain for a handball against gary cahill (floored) mourinho’s favourite scoreline is apparently 2 0 away he regards it as the sign of a controlled, confident, emphatic performance in a close game they certainly went in search of it here and came very close on three occasions in the second half in the 56th minute, a beautiful through pass from hazard set ramires clear on goal he cut inside but his delicate side footed finish struck the inside of the far post and rebounded into the hands of adrian minutes later, west ham’s goalkeeper was in the right place again after terry found hazard whose cross picked out ramires at the far post this time there was no good fortune the save was superb there were six minutes of injury time due to the terry kouyate collision and chelsea came close to wrapping it up then hazard broke, for the last time, drawing adrian yet squaring the ball unselfishly to willian, whose shot was somehow smothered on its way to the net the single goal was the fairer margin of victory, however west ham did not deserve to appear mastered in the scoreline after a simply thrilling second half kurt zouma gets stuck in against enner valencia as the centre half continued to play in the holding role in midfield  zouma continued in midfield after playing the holding role in the capital one cup final, and regularly battled with kevin nolan  cheikhou kouyate unsuccessfully shoots at goal under the ever watchful eye of chelsea skipper john terry  cahill attempts to tackle diafra sakho as kouyate is poised to pounce on the loose ball  the first wasn’t bad either, west ham going close in the 17th minute, when a cross from mark noble found a dangerous area at the near post where kevin nolan caused localised chaos and kouyate arrived late only to have his shot blocked by the shins of courtois two minutes later, a run by enner valencia opened a gap to slide a pass through to sakho, who missed his kick more frustration was to come in the 37th minute, carl jenkinson crossed from the right and the ball dropped perfectly to sakho, directly in front of goal, but planting his header into the ground, landing safely in the hands of courtois after 53 minutes, courtois saved from sakho again, pushing out a shot one handed, just the right side of nolan he saved from sakho after 60 minutes, too, and when he finally spilled a valencia shot 12 minutes later, the outstanding cahill cleared as sakho threatened in vain it was not all wastefulness by west ham, though in the 15th minute, a mix up by ivanovic saw valencia about to speed past terry and go through on goal the ever alert cesc fabregas probes into west ham territory with valencia and mark noble close by  west ham werew forced into an early change as winston reid pulled up in the eighth minute with james collins coming on in his place  mourinho and allardyce share a moment prior to kick off on a crisp night in east london  the chelsea captain weighed the odds in a split second and hauled him down, rugby style did he prevent a goalscoring opportunity? probably did he play the percentage chance of referee andre marriner showing him a red card 30 yards out and early in the match, with cahill covering, if not really in a position to stop? undoubtedly did he get away with it? yes yellow card it was a cynical move, but the smart one, too it was seven minutes later that the winner was scored to be beaten by a header playing chelsea is no disgrace; when the man on the end of the ball is hazard, however, a manager has a right to be aggrieved sam allardyce certainly looked it as the chelsea man completed a headed goal that was as casually taken as a tap in, with west ham’s defence appallingly lax james collins had replaced the injured winston reid after five minutes, but that was no excuse the back four had plenty of time to bed in but went to sleep doing so it was a neat build up involving hazard and cesc fabregas, who slipped the ball to ramires overlapping on the right he had too much room and cut the ball back to leave west ham flat footed, hazard sneaking between the statues to glance a stooping header past adrian it was too easy, and it is hard enough to beat chelsea already — a point allardyce seemed to be making on the touchline
ramires adrian premier league jose mourinho's chelsea manchester city match zone
hazard nodded ramires' cross past adrian in the 22nd minute to give the premier league leaders the upper hand . jose mourinho's men extended their unbeaten run to seven games . chelsea maintain their five point lead over manchester city with 11 games remaining . check out all the stats from our match zone 