Christian Pulisic, Chelsea Lose 1-0 to West Ham United in Premier League

Chelsea dropped points in their second straight Premier League match on Saturday, losing 1-0 to West Ham United.

The Blues were the better team before the break, but Christian Pulisic missed several great chances to hand them the lead. That proved costly, with Aaron Cresswell opening the scoring early in the second half.

The Blues had won six straight Premier League matches before their previous outing, a 2-1 loss to Manchester City.  

Chelsea were expected to dominate early, but West Ham came out with solid organisation at the back, giving up little space. In goal, David Martin was a surprise starter, and he had a fine first half against the Blues.

His first save denied Pulisic a good look on goal, and the American went close minutes later, heading over. A quick one-two with Mason Mount nearly gave Pulisic the space to pull the trigger, but strong defending from Ryan Fredericks meant Martin didn't have to intervene.

A deflected effort after 22 minutes nearly gave the hosts the lead, but the ball bounced off the post. Shortly after, Kepa Arrizabalaga was called into action for the first time, making a fine save on Michail Antonio.

Chelsea's relentless pressure nearly paid off toward the end of the half, with Martin making a spectacular series of saves, per the Athletic's Simon Johnson:

Mateo Kovacic, Olivier Giroud and Pedro all couldn't work the ball past the stopper in quick succession.

Pulisic perhaps should have opened the scoring just before the end of the half, but somehow, he managed to miss the target from just a few yards out.

At half-time, sportswriter Dan Levene was not too impressed with the Blues:

The second half started with a bang, with the visitors taking the lead after just three minutes. Pablo Fornals picked out Cresswell with a clever pass, and he got Reece James to bite easily before producing a fine finish.

Goal's Nizaar Kinsella praised the nifty move:

The goal gave the Hammers a major boost, and they took control of the ball. The home crowd started to grow restless, especially when Fabian Balbuena and Angelo Ogbonna went close to doubling the lead. Kepa made strong saves both times.

Blues manager Frank Lampard made a drastic change to try to switch things up, introducing both N'Golo Kante and Willian.  The video assistant saved the Blues minutes later, ruling out a goal from Antonio for a handball. 

West Ham comfortably survived any late pressure from the Blues, who barely threatened Martin. Pulisic had one more good look on goal, but his hard drive flew narrowly wide of the post.

Injury time saw Martin suffer a knock and Cresswell get into a spat with the referee, taking any remaining momentum out of the contest. 

What's Next?

Both teams will be in action on Wednesday, when Chelsea host Aston Villa and West Ham visit Wolverhampton Wanderers.