Chelsea’s goalless draw with West Ham at the London Stadium was a largely forgettable affair.

The Hammers deserve credit for a resolute display, in the absence of star man Marko Arnautovic and bearing in mind they had lost their other two home matches this season, against Bournemouth and Wolves .

Manuel Pellegrini’s side were well organised and, more pertinently for anyone that watched the aforementioned losses, boasted an actual game plan: hold shape, allow Chelsea to come onto them, and then look to break smartly.

In the end, they were thankful to Lukasz Fabianski for a point, although had Andriy Yarmolenko netted his headed opportunity 12 minutes from time, then they would have come away with all three points.

However, you had to expect more from Chelsea.

(Image: AFP)

The Blues entered the game as one of only two teams with a 100 per cent record in the league; Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool being the other.

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But while the Reds look to hit in swift, sharp fashion, relentlessly going in for the kill, the Blues under Maurizio Sarri have adopted a ‘death by 1000 cuts’ approach.

And no-one embodies that more than his big outfield signing in the summer, Jorginho.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The physical embodiment of ‘Sarri-ball’ both with Napoli and now at Stamford Bridge, the Brazilian-born Italian international has taken to life in the Premier League like the proverbial duck to water.

Certainly, working under a manager, in a formation, and a style that he knows, has helped. Had he joined Manchester City , as had seemed so likely at the start of summer, perhaps it would have taken him longer to adapt.

And after earning rave reviews for his displays thus far, Jorginho landed himself a new Premier League record on Sunday.

(Image: AFP)

The midfield metronome attempted 180 passes during the Stratford stalemate, the most since Opta began recording such things in 2003-04.

All told, the numbers, on paper, make for magnificent reading:

162 completed passes

90 per cent accuracy

134 passes in the opposition half

124 passes forwards

But given how the game went and the direction it was going in from early on, where West Ham were largely happy to allow Chelsea to have the ball in the middle third before looking to step in when it entered the home side's own defensive third, was it necessary?

At one point early in the first half, he sat in the centre circle and promptly exchanged passes with Willian, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante, getting it, giving it, taking it back; rinsing and repeating. He did so 11 times in quick succession. Unfortunately, Chelsea hadn’t actually gone anywhere.

"We could have done better in the first half as we moved the ball slowly," said Sarri post-game.

(Image: PA Wire. )

Did Jorginho's slowing the game down, the desire to work it patiently, not play into the Hammers' blueprint for stifling Hazard and Willian? Did it not just allow West Ham to get back into their structure, rather than being given problems in the increasingly important transition?

Jorginho made 124 forward passes, but how many got his side moving with urgency? He directed 74 passes into the final third, but how many were played that isolated one of Chelsea's danger men one-v-one?

Thirteen times in the first half alone he found Hazard, but only once did it allow the Belgian to drive forwards - and that pass was received by Chelsea's danger man in his own half. Between the 30th and 45th minute, he didn't actually feed Hazard once.

(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Certainly you have to credit West Ham's organisation, but you also have to question Jorginho's use of the ball.

There was one outstanding first-half pass where he shaped to go one way and instead clipped a ball into Olivier Giroud, only for the striker to scuff his effort straight at Fabianski. There was another to find Willian over the top late on. But such dissections of the Hammers rearguard were all too few and far between from a player that saw as much of the ball as he.

The Italian's arrival has seen N'Golo Kante move to a slightly more advanced role in midfield, the World Cup winner now operating as a box-to-box runner.

(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Former Scotland international John Collins explained pre-game on beIN Sports the reason why Jorginho is Sarri's player of choice - rather than the Frenchman - as his side's No.6.

"Normally a No.6 gets the ball off his back four and plays simple passes. But he doesn't; he can get it from deep and plays penetrating 30 yards passes through the back four, so that's what he can do that Kante can't do."

However, on this occasion, he wasn't aggressive enough. Sarri cited post-game that "we needed to move the ball faster - otherwise it is very difficult to create opportunities."

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Manuel Pellegrini stated afterwards: "I think we played well tactically because we allowed them to have the ball where we wanted and we defended well."

Jorginho may hold a new record and have taken his number of completed passes to 628 for the season, but the story of the game was of a somewhat blunt attack vs a resolute defence; he, more than anyone else, had the power to change that.