The battle for the champions league places in the English top flight looks very exciting at the moment after Chelsea and Leceister City dropped all three points against West Ham and Everton respectively.
Chelsea had opened the scoring at the London stadium from a penalty well taken by Willian after Christian Pulisic was brought down by Issa Diop in the Hammers penalty area. West Ham got back into the game not too long after and just before half time when Bowen’s cross found Slavia Prague loanee Soucek who powered a towering header into the net.
Bowen also supplied another assist to Michail Antonio who tapped in from close range to give the Hammers the lead six minutes into the second half.
Prior to this game, Willian had not scored against West Ham but he doubled his tally on the night with a sweetly struck free kick from 20 yards out to bring Chelsea back into the game.
Unlike the game at Aston Villa, there was no comeback for Chelsea as Andry Yarmalenko’s finished from a late counter attack condemned Chelsea to their first defeat since the return of football.
The last time Chelsea were defeated by a three goal margin was at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League before the suspension of football and they could not win the much needed points against the Hammers who would be very happy to win all three points in their bid to avoid relegation.
For all that their season is worth, Leicester City will be licking their wounds after they have blown open the race for the top three finish. Jamie Vardy failed to get onto the scores sheet for the fourth match since the Foxes resumed their Premier League campaign.
Once looking destined for the Champions League next season, successive dropping of points have seen their position being open up to a challenge from teams outside the top four at the moment.
Their latest defeat also came on the same night Chelsea lost. Early goals from Richarlisson and Sigurdsson just before the twenty minutes condemned them to defeat despite Kelechi Ihenacho’s 51’st minute strike offered a glimmer of hope for the Foxes.
Manchester United and Wolverhampton will be delighted with the results considering that they picked up all three points against Brighton and Bournemouth while still keeping clean sheets. It all makes for an interesting end to the season with both teams two points away from fourth spot and three from the third spot.
Very few can bet against the Red Devils have they have looked comfortable in victories against Sheffield and Brighton, teams they would struggle to beat some few months ago. Their fixture list does not look bad either and the confidence in the team looks really high at the moment.
Wolves also have a very easy fixture list and will also be challenging quietly as they have been doing for a couple of matches now. All in all, the top four battle is wide open to all four of the teams but only the best teams will rise in the end.
Halif's blog 