Fabregas curbs West Ham's top-4 ambitions
London - Late equalisers in each half from Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas kept West Ham United out of the Premier League top four following a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
West Ham had the better of the first half and took a deserved lead through Manuel Lanzini, only for an error by Winston Reid in injury time to give Chelsea a free-kick that Fabregas curled home.
Andy Carroll restored West Ham's lead a minute after taking the field as a substitute, but Fabregas levelled again from a penalty after Chelsea substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek was tripped by Michael Antonio.
Chelsea has not won for four matches, but remains unbeaten in the Premier League under interim manager Guus Hiddink.
West Ham is now unbeaten in eight games in all competitions, but will be kicking itself for missing a good chance to move into the Champions League places.
The positive for Chelsea was that it showed plenty of spirit in the first match since its season was effectively ended by successive losses to Everton and Paris Saint-Germain in the FA Cup and Champions League.
West Ham, looking full of confidence, attacked from the kick-off and took the lead in the 17th minute.
John Mikel Obi was at full stretch to knock the ball out of Dimitri Payet's stride, but it only travelled as far as Lanzini, 25 yards out.
The Argentine got the ball on his right foot, looked up and curled it over Thibault Courtois and into the net.
Payet then tried an extravagant volley from a cross by Mark Noble that had Courtois scrambling across his goal, and Cheikhou Kouyate, awarded a new five-year contract this week, could only glance a header past the post.
Chelsea looked flat and even its main source of inspiration this season, Willian, could not be relied upon when a foul by Kouyate on Kenedy game him a chance from a free-kick 22 yards out.
His shot beat the defensive wall, but dropped a yard wide of the post.
When Reid's poor control in first-half injury time gifted the ball to Oscar and forced the New Zealand defender to bring the Chelsea man down 25 yards out, it was Fabregas rather than Willian who took the free-kick.
This time the ball flew past Adrian's right hand and into the top-left corner.