West Ham United 0-0 Chelsea: 5 Hits and Flops, Premier League 2018-19
Chelsea's winning run came to an end on Sunday afternoon as the Blues were held to a goalless draw by West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Maurizio's Sarri side was far more dominant in possession but lacked creativity and were unable to break the deadlock. Both teams came close to scoring on either end in the second half but lacked end product and had to settle for a point each.
Chelsea dropped down to third place in the Premier League and will face Liverpool at home next weekend. Meanwhile, West Ham are two points clear off the drop zone and will look to continue their resurgence against an inconsistent Manchester United team next week.
On that note, here are the hits and flops from the game:
#5 Hit: Fabian Balbuena
West Ham's summer acquisition Fabian Balbuena seems to be finding his feet in English football. The Paraguayan has started all games in the league thus far and put in one of his best performances of the season on Sunday.
Balbuena looked immense on the day against the Blues and led from the front to help his club gain a draw. The outlandish defender possessed coordination and communication with his back four and didn't let any alarming moments affect his teammates for large portions of the game.
Balbuena led the charge with 11 clearances, three interceptions and at the same time did a great job in ruining Chelsea's momentum in attack. His presence of mind and discipline helped West Ham avert danger and in return, the opponents were forced to restart in the attack.
Similarly, the 27-year-old was very clean in his tackling, did not any commit any silly or mistimed fouls and made it hard for the Chelsea attackers to break through on goal.