West Ham vs Chelsea: Slaven Bilic frustrated as fan violence mars 'great night' for his team

Both managers were left pleased with how their teams have performed, despite unsavoury scenes in the stands

Bilic's side won consecutive league games for the first time this season (Getty)

Slaven Bilic was frustrated after seeing his team’s excellent performance against Chelsea get overshadowed by violence between the two sets of fans at the London Stadium.

When Bilic was asked about the violence, in the second question of his post-match press conference, he said that he would rather focus on West Ham United’s performance, their best of the season. “I think this game deserves to be talked about a little more,” Bilic said. “It was a London derby, 2-1 win for us, with great goals and great performances. We should be talking about this.”

When pressed on the issue, Bilic confirmed that he was “totally against” the violence in the stands, which he thought was “unacceptable”.

Bilic was delighted with West Ham’s third straight win, and a performance which he saw as a continuation of their growing confidence. “It was a great night for us and a great game of football,” the manager said. “To put on that kind of performance, it’s really important for us. Not only for this competition, but in general, to gain even more confidence, individually and as a team. It was a great execution of the plan from the players.”

Bilic bemoaned the fact that West Ham’s reward for beating Chelsea was a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, the team who knocked them out of the FA Cup last season. “United away, it’s not good,” Bilic said on hearing of the draw. “Since I am here it has been tough draws. Last year we got Leicester City away in the Capital One Cup, then in the quarter-final of the FA Cup Manchester United away, and now again. But it is going to be a good game in a great stadium.”

Despite the defeat, Antonio Conte was pleased with his Chelsea players and said that they were unlucky to lose. “The performance was good,” Conte said, “we created many chances to score a goal. I saw good spirit in my players, because they tried until the end to change the result. We were a bit unlucky in this aspect [finishing]. It is a pity.”

Conte gave Nathaniel Chalobah his first Chelsea start, and Ola Aina his second, and said that he was frustrated he would not be able to give them more chances in the EFL Cup this season. “It was very important to check the development of these young players,” Conte said.

“We have good youngsters, they need to play, and for this reason I am disappointed that we cannot play in the future in this competition. The young players, like the other players, played a good game, with the right intensity and concentration. When you lose, it’s normal that you see the bad things. But in this game I found a lot of positives.”

The fact that Chelsea continued to fight until the end gave Conte optimism that Chelsea will respond will against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday.

“I am optimistic because I saw the right spirit, and this is very important,” Conte said. “You can lose or win, but I always want to see the right spirit. If the right spirit is there, you can work. ON Sunday we play a very tough game, but with work we can improve a lot. We are in the right way, and we must continue.”