West Ham, desperate for points and starved of success, overpowered rivals Chelsea who – to their shame – turned up at the London Stadium for this midweek league derby smugly expecting a simple win.

On paper, the Blues should have beaten the Irons. Especially as the vast echoing bowl of a stadium lacked a baying crowd; traditionally the 12^th man.

But while Chelsea were the form side, the Hammers had such an urgent need for points to avoid the drop that they fought like tigers and deserved their victory.

The Blues played the possession game, but with a rotated line-up they seemed to lack the edge and urgency they displayed against Leicester in the second half at the King Power.

It has meant that Chelsea now have Manchester United – their FA Cup semi-final opponents on July 19 at Wembley – breathing down their necks in the league.

The match was enthralling end-to-end stuff. West Ham thought they’d taken the lead soon after the half-hour mark when Tomas Soucek bundled the ball over the line only for VAR to rule it out after three long minutes.

It proved a wake-up call for Chelsea, and the Blues took the lead thanks to a beautifully taken penalty by Willian, three minutes before the break, after Issa Diop felled the impressive Christian Pulisic (playing despite a thigh knock).

But in a sign of how distracted Chelsea seemed, they conceded to a near-identical corner kick to the Irons’ disallowed goal in stoppage time; Soucek rising well above Cesar Azpilicueta to nod in past Kepa.

West Ham took the lead in the 51^st minute, the sprinty Michail Antonio theatrically falling over in the box, getting up and resuming duties to sweep home for 2-1.

The Blues levelled in the 72^nd minute; Willian scoring from an exquisite free kick which curled and flew in off the post.

It looked like a point apiece, but the Hammers were hungrier and with a minute and a bit of normal time remaining, Andriy Yarmolenko fired home on the break.