Chelsea miss top spot with 1-1 draw with West Ham

Nicolas Anelka scored his 14th goal of the season on Sunday to save Chelsea from an embarrassing home defeat to West Ham and earn a 1-1 draw.

Anelka equalised six minutes into the second half, after Craig Bellamy had scored, to put Chelsea, who needed victory to overtake Liverpool at the top of the Premier League, in danger of a third home defeat of the season.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari had to bring on striker Didier Drogba for the second half after it took his team almost 45 minutes to draw a single save from West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green – and the change worked almost immediately.

With Drogba’s presence seeming to occupy the West Ham defence, Anelka collected a delicate pass over the top from former Hammers midfielder Frank Lampard and shot through Green’s legs.

And Drogba almost won it for Chelsea midway through the second half with a header that was going in until Green dropped down to stop it at the post and push the ball out for a corner.

Chelsea dominated the closing stages and forced West Ham midfielder Scott Parker to head the ball off the line, but were lucky not to lose when Carlton Cole shot too close to Petr Cech with only the Blues goalkeeper to beat.

Second-place Chelsea have 37 points, one behind Liverpool, who drew 2-2 with Hull on Saturday. Defending champions Manchester United drew 0-0 with Tottenham on Saturday and are five points further back in third.

Bellamy put the visitors ahead in the 33rd minute with a 12-metre half volley from Mark Noble’s cross, although Chelsea captain John Terry was booked for complaining too persistently to the referee that both players had handled the ball during the build-up.

The result left West Ham 16th in the standings, trailing on goal difference to Tottenham and Newcastle, who beat Portsmouth 3-0 on Sunday to move out of the relegation zone.

Although Newcastle went into the match in 18th place with just three wins, they created far more chances than the hosts and eventually converted when Michael Owen flicked the ball over goalkeeper David James in the 52nd minute.

Obafemi Martins made it 2-0 in the 77th and Danny Guthrie completed the scoring with a side-footed finish from just inside the area into the top of the net.

“We’ve been playing solidly now for a few weeks,” said Owen, who has seven goals this season. “Once we got one (goal), they had to come out a bit and we picked them off.”