SAM ALLARDYCE knows that he will probably never feature on Roman Abramovich's wanted list when the Chelsea owner begins his search for yet another new boss.
So it was hardly surprising that the man derided as a managerial throwback to the days of blood and thunder took so much satisfaction from this well-deserved Hammers victory.
For 45 minutes yesterday Allardyce could only stand and squirm as his team were taken apart by Chelsea's ball-playing sophisticates.
Yet Big Sam did not panic and he did not get out the half-time hairdryer.
Instead, he made a couple of tactical changes to his team, cranked up the pressure on his opponents' egg-shell confidence and watched in satisfaction as every one of his second-half decisions paid dividends.
Key to the dramatic turn-around was the introduction of midfield enforcer Mohamed Diame as a half-time replacement for the out-of-sorts James Tomkins.
WEST HAM boss says winning games is how to get fans onside - after beating under-fire Rafa Benitez
Suddenly Juan Mata was denied the space he had revelled in during the first 45 minutes as the hungry Hammers swarmed all over a team who do not know where their next win is coming from their visitors.
And the minute Carlton Cole climbed all over Branislav Ivanovic to head home West Ham's controversial 63rd- minute equaliser, you knew there was only going to be one winner.
It was West Ham's first win over their London rivals in 14 attempts and Allardyce said: "I wouldn't say we were dead and buried at half-time but the second half was all about our belief, our desire and our quality.
"We upped our level from the first minute of the second half and we kept going until they cracked.
"We over-complicated things in the first half but we changed it tactically and all three of our substitutes made a big contribution to what was an outstanding victory."
BLUES interim boss admits he has serious work to be getting on with after miserable defeat to West Ham
While Allardyce was left to celebrate three crucial points, Abramovich must be asking himself just what the hell is going on at Chelsea. The trigger-happy Russian might have given this one a swerve but could probably still have heard the howls of protest from the other side of London.
And his team haven't hit rock bottom yet. That comes on Wednesday night when they go out of the Champions League and surrender the crown they fought so long and hard for.
If Chelsea play anything like this against Danish minnows Nordsjaelland in midweek, the result of Juventus' trip to Donetsk will be immaterial.
This is their worst run of form since February 1995. Not since the days of Glenn Hoddle, 11 managers ago, have the Blues gone seven Premier League games without a win.
And, the way things are going right now, you would not bet against Rafa Benitez soon joining them.
It would be ludicrous to lay all of the blame for Chelsea's collapse at the door of an interim manager who has been in the job for only 11 days.
But none of the travelling fans were prepared to give the Spaniard the benefit of the doubt as they joined in with the West Ham taunts of "you're getting sacked in the morning'.
And that overwhelming mood of negativity has quickly spread to a "team' of players who showed neither character nor fighting spirit to resist West Ham's impressive second-half comeback. Even without the injured John Terry and Frank Lampard, the lack of leadership in the Chelsea ranks was alarming.
Benitez had complained before this game that his players were exhausted because the squad was too small and Roberto Di Matteo hadn't rotated enough. Yet he still didn't have the courage to leave out Fernando Torres, who has started more games than any other outfield player this season yet contributed less than most of them.
To be fair to Torres — and that's not a phrase we've used too often in the last couple of years — he did set up the first goal of Benitez's reign when he teed up Mata's emphatic 13th-minute finish.
But that was to be his last meaningful contribution of an afternoon in which Chelsea's lack of spine came home to haunt them.
And they have no-one but themselves to blame for their failure to take advantage of their overwhelming first-half dominance.
Yet as dreadful as West Ham were during those first 45 minutes, they were superior in every department following Allardyce's tactical tinkering.
Cole's 63rd-minute equaliser from Matt Jarvis' deflected cross was confirmation that the tide had turned.
Benitez desperately tried to shore things up by hauling off Eden Hazard to chants of "you don't know what you're doing" from the travelling Blues fans.
But there was no stopping West Ham now and they deservedly took the lead in the 86th minute when Cole held off John Obi Mikel to tee up Diame for an unstoppable low shot.
And any thoughts of an unlikely Chelsea comeback were extinguished when Ashley Cole gifted the hosts a third when his terrible pass allowed Matt Taylor to set up fellow sub Modibo Maiga deep into stoppage time.
DREAM TEAM
SUN STAR MAN - NOLAN (WEST HAM)
West Ham: Jaaskelainen 7, Demel 6, Collins 7, Reid 6, O'Brien 6, Tomkins 5 (Taylor 46), Noble 7, O'Neil 5 (Diame 46), Nolan 8, Jarvis 6, Cole 7 (Maiga 87). Subs Not Used: Spiegel, Spence, Fanimo, Moncur. Booked: Noble. Goals: Cole 63, Diame 86, Maiga 90.
Chelsea: Cech 7, Azpilicueta 6, Ivanovic 5, Cahill 6, Cole 5, Mikel 6, Ramires 6, Moses 7 (Marin 78), Hazard 6 (Oscar 73), Mata 8, Torres 5. Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Ferreira, Bertrand, Romeu, Piazon. Booked: Cech, Mikel. Goals: Mata 13.
Att: 35,005
Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
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