West Ham, given their relegation fears, would normally have given thanks for a point against Chelsea, but they felt wronged here when Matthew Upson was deemed by the referee, Mike Dean, on the advice of his assistant, to have fouled the substitute Daniel Sturridge. Frank Lampard converted the penalty at the third attempt, after the official ruled out the first two kicks for encroachment.

Chelsea had met with stiff resistance from West Ham, who know they need to stop games from being quite so eventful if they are to survive in the Premier League. The side had been conceding at a rate of two goals to every match before this fixture. No one accused them of a reckless romanticism here and they threatened to hold on to the lead they had gained with a penalty of their own.

There were breaks on the flanks now and again, but for the most part Chelsea found 10 men barring their way. The visitors are accustomed to that sort of approach, but would not have anticipated the implacable manner in which West Ham applied themselves.

Any reputation for brittleness had receded. Not even the muscle injury that ended Danny Gabbidon’s involvement had immediate consequences as James Tomkins rejoined a line-up in which he had started the previous three games.

It had looked unlikely that West Ham would score, but a covering Ashley Cole fouled Jack Collison from behind as he collected a pass and Alessandro Diamanti sent Petr Cech the wrong way to convert the penalty in the 45th minute. Chelsea’s true difficulty, all the same, lay in a lack of invention.

They might well have had a penalty early in the game, when Gabbidon’s hand made contact with the ball, but it did look for a time as if they would be dependent on Didier Drogba for a goal, and at the start of the second half he nearly scored with an angled volley from Cech’s kick-out that flew narrowly wide. Nonetheless, West Ham took credit for thwarting Chelsea so often.

Premier LeagueWest Ham UnitedChelseaKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk