West Ham secured a place in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup by beating Chelsea at the London Stadium. Here’s how we rated the Hammers players in their 2-1 victory.
Darren Randolph: 8
Great stuff from the Hammers keeper, who really impressed. Commanded his area well and produced top-notch saves to keep out strikes from Nathaniel Chalobah, Michy Batshuyai and N’Golo Kante.
Edimilson Fernandes: 8
A fine display by the Swiss youngster, capped by his first West Ham goal. He defended solidly and got forward well.
Winston Reid: 7
Would have been a man-of-the-match contender but for the fact that Diego Costa caused him problems after coming on for Chelsea. Up to that point Reid had totally dominated the hapless Batshuayi, who got nothing out of the Irons defender.
Angelo Ogbonna: 7
Was also caused some problems as Chelsea’s Costa-led attack came on strong in the closing stages. Prior to that Ogbonna had been impressive.
Aaron Cresswell: 8
It’s not often the relentless Willian comes off second best, but the Chelsea man had a game to forget, partly because of Cresswell’s display on the left. He kept Willian quiet and was more than willing to make him defend too.
Mark Noble: 8
It’s also not often that N’Golo Kante struggles to shut down an opposing midfield. Noble was outstanding once again, picking up space time after time and delivering a great ball in from the left for the opening goal.
Pedro Obiang: 7
Didn’t grab the headlines but played his part in a terrific performance. He was neat and tidy on the ball and got through plenty off work off it.
Cheikhou Kouyate: 8
Got in front of John Terry to score with a cracking header – and it altered the course of the match after Chelsea had made a lively start. The Senegalese midfielder’s all-round display was superb; full of quality and commitment.
Manuel Lanzini: 6
Worked hard, but missed two good opportunities to score and was sloppy with the ball at times.
Dimitri Payet: 8
Proved yet again that no Premier League defence can handle him when he’s in full flow. He gave Terry and David Luiz all sorts of problems and was unlucky not to score. A joy to watch as always.
Michail Antonio: 8
Brilliant. Getting the better of Luiz in the box early on set the tone for the night. From that moment he continually stretched the Chelsea defence, never giving the likes of Luiz and Terry a moment’s respite. Led from the front with pace, movement and work-rate on a night to remember for the Hammers.
Sofiane Feghouli: 7
Also hassled the Chelsea defence when he was brought on for the final quarter of the game.
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