Jorginho’s penalty was saved by West Ham’s Lukasz Fabianski in the 90th minute, but Christian Pulisic came off the bench to save Chelsea with a 90th-minute winner at Stamford Bridge.
West Ham left Stamford Bridge empty-handed and retraced their steps across London, despite the fact that the Premier League is no longer their first concern. With Thursday’s Europa League semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt in mind, Moyes chose to start with several vital players on the bench.
Declan Rice was on the field for 30 minutes, Jarrod Bowen for 20 minutes, while Michail Antonio was not on the field at all. He didn’t appear to be expecting it, either. In a baseball cap, he jogged down the touchline for a stretch at one point.
Tuchel’s preparations were thwarted when Andreas Christensen withdrew from the team due to stomach problems during the warm-up. During the loss to Arsenal on Wednesday, Christensen was forced off at halftime.
Reece James was out with a hamstring injury, therefore Trevoh Chalobah was recruited into the back three with Ruben Loftus-Cheek filling in at wing-back, according to Tuchel. And there was no sign of Antonio Rudiger, who is still sidelined with a groin injury after announcing his intention to quit Chelsea at the end of the season.
The first half was a slog for both teams, with little flow or innovation on display and no shots on target at either end. Andriy Yarmolenko came the closest, but his shot was just wide.
Because center-halves Angelo Ogbonna, Kurt Zouma, and Issa Diop were all injured, Chelsea was unable to stretch West Ham’s makeshift back-three, which included full-backs Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell on each side of Dawson.
However, Fabianksi was able to make the necessary adjustments and save the game. It was the first of the game, and it had been about an hour since the start. He made yet another save, this time against Chalobah, who charged forward and fired a long-range shot.
With just over an hour gone, Moyes was the first to make a change, bringing on Rice to replace Mark Noble. West Ham made the greatest start of the game right away. Yarmolenko was freed on the right by Pablo Fornals, but Edouard Mendy reduced the angle and smothered his shot.
Chelsea became more dangerous as the game progressed. Werner smashed the rebound into the side netting after Dawson made another crucial block to deny Mason Mount. Fabianski saved Werner from Alonso’s attack.
Tuchel’s team was already in command when he made his triple substitution. Hakim Ziyech, Romelu Lukaku, and Christian Pulisic all came on to assist Chelsea cross the finish line. Lukaku, whose recent performances have not gone according to plan, won the penalty and drew the dismissal of West Ham’s best defender. Pulisic scored the game-winner.