Manuel Pellegrini was left frustrated with the poor finishing that prevented West Ham from reaping the full rewards of his plan to overcome Chelsea.
In the absence of Marko Arnautovic, Michail Antonio and Andriy Yarmolenko squandered golden opportunities to turn one point into three in the 0-0 draw at London Stadium.
Chelsea were dominant for large periods between those scares, commanding over 70 per cent of possession.
Pellegrini commended his team's work ethic in defence but lamented the lack of composure that cost them successive victories.
"When you have such clear chances against a big team, you must score at least one of them. You must score," the Hammers boss said.
"[Chelsea] had a lot of possession because we allowed them to have the ball.
"We forced them to play most of the game from the right side, not the left side where Marcos Alonso and Eden Hazard are so dangerous.
"The first half was very clear, the way I wanted to play. The second we maybe lost too many balls. But against these teams, a draw is not a bad point."
Congratulations to the players for their great effort and thanks to all the fans for the amazing support today.It’s our first clean sheet and against one of the favorite teams of the .September 23, 2018
Yarmolenko, twice on target in last weekend's 3-1 win at Everton, was especially culpable for failing to break the deadlock, planting a free header wide with fewer than 15 minutes remaining.
"Maybe it seemed easier to score than miss. Maybe he relaxed a bit more," Pellegrini said of the chance.
"But there were two very clear chances in the first half. [Chelsea] had one clear chance where Lukasz [Fabianski] saved from [Alvaro] Morata. It's always difficult to score."
