Conte praises Terry and Fabregas after cup win

Antonio Conte hailed a job well done for Chelsea after their win at West Ham – but was quickly turning his attention to next Monday’s quarter-final at home to Manchester United.

This is the first league meeting between the sides at the London Stadium – the Hammers won just two of their last 10 Premier League games against Chelsea at Upton Park.

The result keeps Chelsea top of the Premier League, and considering the form they are now in, they look like they’ll win the thing at an absolute canter.

“I hope so because the result wasn’t good for us and we want to try to take three points”, said the Italian. “There are enough points available if they slip, and every game will be hard for them”, he said.

‘We probably didn’t play the best game of the season, ‘ Hazard admitted after he was awarded man of the match. It’s a major reason why the players and fans expect the club to win nearly every game.

West Ham did not start the season well, and when they lost Dimitri Payet in the transfer window, the line-up looked a little weak.

Chelsea then went further ahead five minutes into the second half when Cesc Fabregas’s corner skimmed off the head of West Ham’s Pedro Obiang and straight to Costa who could not miss. However, the Hammers were never outclassed and their gutsy display was a vast improvement on other defeats against the top six on their home ground this campaign. We are trying to do something important with the club, for the present, for the future.

West Ham did conjure a response, Sofiane Feghouli forcing Victor Moses to clear from his own goalmouth and Jose Fonte heading wide from Winston Reid’s cross, but again Chelsea nearly retaliated with a goal.

The Hammers have been bad at home against the top six teams, and they will come into this encounter with SportyBet as underdogs with odds of (5.63). “Now we have a complete player, offensively and defensively”. Chelsea are too good for most teams this season but it’s frustrating when a team gives them golden opportunities as the Hammers did in this game.

Andy Carroll set out the last two games for West Ham due to a groin injury but Slaven Bilic must be happy to welcome him.

“It is still very open”. Let’s say we are in the position of Chelsea, or even better, regarding the clubs in the relegation zone.

Alternatively, if you couldn’t be arsed waiting for Lampard to give his reasons for each pick, here’s who gets the nod in his team.

An aside: I’m not sure what the atmosphere was like for the lucky fans who got to see this match from inside the Olympic Stadium, but from my vantage point through the t.v. cameras, everything seemed, well, dead.