West Ham United secured a point against Chelsea, but Andriy Yarmolenko had a golden opportunity to steal the points for the Hammers.
The Irons, who would have been buoyed by their victory over Everton last time out, were doing well and holding the visitors to the stalemate at the London Stadium when Robert Snodgrass crossed the ball towards Yarmolenko with 12 minutes to go.
The Ukrainian managed to lose Marcos Alonso at the back post, but failed to find the target with his header from around 12 yards out. It was a golden chance, but it did not prove too costly as West Ham held on for a point to restore the two-point gap between themselves and the bottom three.
But Defoe suggested after the full-time whistle that it would have been three points for the Irons had it been Carroll – who is yet to play this season due to injury – on the end of the opportunity.
“He’ll be disappointed. He should score to be honest,” he told Sky Sports. “If that falls to someone like an Andy Carroll, let’s say, it’s a goal, 100 percent it’s a goal. People always say you head it back across where it’s come. He has to score, you see the reaction from the goalkeeper, he couldn’t believe that he missed.”
It will be a moment that may haunt Yarmolenko while West Ham wait for their next game – which comes in the Carabao Cup against Macclesfield this Wednesday – but Manuel Pellegrini may perhaps be reminding him that he got himself into a fantastic position and, having showed last week that he is more than capable of finding the back of the net, it does not have to be too long before he puts the miss behind him.
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