Brave Hammers go down fighting

They were beaten by a Timo Werner strike in the 43rd minute but given the injury situation they find themselves in this was a courageous performance,

Balbuena – one of those who may be waving goodbye

It means of course that Chelsea have gained the edge in the battle for that Champions League spot but there’s still plenty of football to be played and this is no time to throw the towel in.

David Moyes – without suspended Craig Dawson, Declan Rice, Mikey Antonio or Aaron Cresswell  played Fabian Balbuena who was desperately unlucky to be red carded when hr cleared the an 80th minute ball but caught Ben Chillwell  on the follow through – an absurd decision.

The manager had also thrown Ryan Fredericks on the left side of midfield and the right back produced a quality performance at front and back.

The Hammers had a moment when Lingard nearly chipped a fine equaliser and grew into the game in the early part of the second half.

But Fabianski certainly made up for his errors of last week with two or three fine saves.

At the end of the day we remain in fifth place thanks to Newcastle holding Liverpool at Anfeld earlier in the day with winnable games to come.