LONDON – Timo Werner ended his goal drought in timely fashion to earn Chelsea a crucial 1-0 victory over West Ham United in the battle for a top-four finish in the Premier League on Saturday.
The German had gone 14 games without scoring for club and country but produced a clinical finish shortly before halftime as Chelsea took the points at the London Stadium.
Victory enabled Thomas Tuchel's fourth-placed side to open up a three-point gap over West Ham for whom two successive defeats have dented their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
West Ham's Lukasz Fabianski was the busier of the two goalkeepers and West Ham struggled to open up their visitors as Chelsea kept a 16th clean sheet in 21 matches under Tuchel.
The hosts showed plenty of endeavour but their cause was not helped when Fabian Balbuena was harshly sent off late on.
Reuters