“He gave away that goal” – Gabby Agbonlahor blames ‘complacent’ Chelsea man for poor performance against West Ham
West Ham came from behind not once but twice to beat Chelsea 3-2 in what turned out to be an exceptionally spirited performance from David Moyes's men on Saturday.
It ends in defeat for the Blues.
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After conceding the first goal of the match to a Thiago Silva header in the 23rd minute, West Ham took full advantage of a rare defensive mistake from Chelsea.
A poor back pass from Jorginho caught Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy by surprise as he failed to clear the ball.
To make matters worse, his efforts resulted in a clear foul on Jarrod Bowen inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Manuel Lanzini made no mistake as he deftly dispatched the resulting penalty to equalize in the 40th minute.
However, just four minutes later, at the stroke of half-time, Mason Mount gifted Chelsea the lead once again with a sensational first-touch volley. Despite heading into the break with the lead, Chelsea failed to capitalize in the second half as they eventually succumbed to an inspiring comeback from the Hammers.
Bowen brought the hosts level for the second time in the 56th minute, before Arthur Masuaku completed a miraculous turnaround in the dying embers of the game with his 87th-minute goal.
Following the result, former Aston Villa forward Gabby Agbonlahor tore into Chelsea star Jorginho for his erroneous pass that led to West Ham's first goal of the match.
Agbolahor also questioned Jorginho's third-placed finish for this year's Ballon d'Or award, claiming the Italian midfielder is growing complacent. Speaking to talkSPORT, he said:
“Jorginho, I don’t know how he could be in the Ballon d’Or running. He gave away that goal and it’s just his complacency.
Agbonlahor also suggested that Chelsea, as a team, may also be growing complacent
“Chelsea have got a bit comfortable in the way they’ve been playing," he said.
He then returned his attention to Jorginho's costly mistake against West Ham and said:
“To just receive the ball where he did, short pass to Mendy and put the goalkeeper in trouble and then Mendy will get the blame.
“Jorginho was also at fault for the (Jadon) Sancho goal at Manchester United, I think he’s getting a bit too complacent back there,” he added.
Defeat against West Ham leaves Chelsea behind Manchester City and Liverpool
Notably, Chelsea headed into the game against West Ham atop the Premier League table and not many expected them to slip to third place by the end of Matchday 15.
However, their loss to the Hammers - coupled with Manchester City's 3-1 win against Watford and Liverpool's narrow 1-0 win against Wolves - saw the Blues slip down the Premier League table.
After 15 rounds of matches, Chelsea find themselves with 33 points while Manchester City and Liverpool are on 35 and 34 points, respectively. With 23 matches yet to be played by each team, this season could truly go right down to the wire.