David Moyes-inspired West Ham United have defeated EPL title holders, Chelsea.
The Blues lost via a lone goal from West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic.
With the defeat, Chelsea now sit 11 points behind Manchester City, who have a game in hand against city rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
The Stamford Bridge side’s hopes of retaining the league title appears over, and a top-four finish is looking hard to maintain.
Despite gaining 72 percent of the possession, the Blues failed to recover from a slow start in the first half to get the job done.
The new West Ham manager had dropped English goalkeeper Joe Hart in favour of Spaniard, Adrian Lopez, a gamble which paid off handsomely. As part of a tactical shift, the manager had also dropped Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho, Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew.
Asked if Chelsea still stood a chance of winning the title, manager Antonio Conte said: “To talk about the title race after a defeat is a bit strange, especially if this is the fourth defeat in 16 games. When you have this start it’s impossible to think you’re in the title race. My experience tells me this.”
He added, “Our ideas were not so clear. We made a lot of mistakes. We created chances to score but we didn’t take them. When you shoot 19 times in a game, it means you attacked but we can do better.”
Chelsea’s four losses this season have come against Burnley, Crystal Palace, Manchester City and West Ham.