After exactly 1,000 minutes without finding the back of the net, Timo Werner put an end to his goal drought in the Premier.
The Chelsea striker scored at the far post after Olivier Giroud failed to hit a serve that was too high to lead his side to a 2-0 win over Newcastle on Monday.
“I think as a forward it is much more difficult when you run into a situation like that and you don’t have a chance,” Werner told Sky Sports. “Previously I had many opportunities and I failed them and today my team also created many situations in which I could have scored, and it is important to keep up, as we did today.”
Hailing from Leipzig last summer, Werner scored in the 39th minute against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge for his first league goal since 7 November.
The German national team also assisted in the first goal of the match eight minutes earlier, with a cross that Karl Darlow could not control and that Giroud took advantage of.
“As a forward, you always want to score, last month was not so good, and I was not happy not to score,” Werner said. “But at the end of the day it’s a team sport and when we win it’s fine.”
The fourth consecutive league victory since manager Thomas Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard guided Chelsea back to fourth place en route to the Champions League.
While Chelsea are used to playing in top European competition, West Ham have never qualified. But the East London side are only slightly behind Chelsea on goal difference, after defeating Sheffield United 3-0 despite the absence of attacker Michail Antonio.
“If someone had told me at the start of the season, I wouldn’t have believed them,” said West Ham manager David Moyes, whose team was close to relegation last season.
Declan Rice opened the scoring via penalty – West Ham’s first penalty this season – in the 41st minute after Chris Basham knocked down Jesse Lingard inside the box.
Issa Diop doubled the lead after hitting Aaron Cresswell’s corner kick off the mark, and Ryan Fredericks came on substitute to close the score on stoppage time.
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