David Moyes had praise for his West Ham United side’s fighting qualities after they battled back from a whirlwind Chelsea start to claim a point at London Stadium on Saturday.
João Félix opened the scoring with 16 minutes played in east London, during a testing beginning to the contest which also saw the visitors have two goals chalked off for tight offsides.
West Ham did not wilt, though, and Emerson’s 28th-minute leveller – his first career Premier League goal and against his former club to boot – ultimately proved enough to secure a share of the spoils.
There was drama late on when substitute Tomáš Souček saw his close-range strike ruled out for offside against Declan Rice, who had gone just too soon before his header was parried into the Czech's path by Kepa Arrizabalaga, and then when Conor Gallagher's shot hit Souček on the arm as he fell to the ground to block.
Souček was on the pitch as Paquetá had left the field with a shoulder injury in the first half, and Nayef Aguerd was also replaced in the second with what appeared to be a groin problem.
While Moyes felt elements of his team’s play fell below their standards, most notably their defensive play, he felt their character was a major factor behind extending their unbeaten run to a fourth game.
I’ve got to give great credit to the boys for coming from behind.
We didn’t look right [at the start] and I have to say early on that Declan Rice played with a virus today, which you could probably see in his performance, his level was a little below where he’d normally be, but after 20 minutes I’d have shook your hand and taken a draw after the way we started.
Defensively we weren’t good today, but the only thing was we kept ourselves in it. We didn’t concede a second goal, which would have made it difficult to get back.
We worked our way into the game, it took us 20 or 30 minutes to get into the game, but as it went on I thought we got a bit better.
In the second half especially we gave them more of a game and it was a bit more for sharing after half-time.
Defensively we looked open and it looked as though it wasn’t working well enough at the start, and we were not communicating well enough.
They got a goal, had a couple of close of offside calls, and those are the situations we’re trying to avoid.
It’s not the way I want my teams to defend, the way we played in the opening 20 or 30 minutes.
Our pressing today was good [and it led to our opening goal when Vladimír Coufal won the ball back and then crossed for Emerson to score].
We pressed them well and won a lot back.
We had some joy with it and that part of our game was good. It was probably the bit when they got nearer our goal I was more worried about.
We need to try and keep the run going now [after one defeat in seven in all competitions and no defeats in our last three in the Premier League].
We need to keep picking up points. Three points is what we need really and I thought with the one at the end [Souček's goal which was ruled out following a VAR check for offside], maybe it’s our day, we’re nicking one late on and maybe winning a game which didn’t look like it, but unfortunately it’s ruled out.
I’ve not seen the medical team yet, so I couldn’t tell you what either Paquetá or Nayef Aguerd got.
But, look, we can’t afford any more injuries, that’s for sure. Certainly not at centre-half, where we’re down to the bare bones and we’re needing them all fit with the games we’ve got coming up.
We’ve got to hope they’re okay.
