Mauro Zarate's goal has given West Ham United a 1-0 half-time lead over Chelsea, who have had Nemanja Matic sent off for two yellow cards, in this afternoon's London derby at Upton Park.

The game started with an intensity befitting a match between local rivals and after a combative opening few minutes it was the hosts who had the first effort of the game, Dimitri Payet moving away from a defender but firing well over the crossbar from distance.

Chelsea struggled to settle in the early stages but will feel that they should have led before the 10-minute mark when Cesc Fabregas dinked the ball over the home defence and Diego Costa muscled his way onto the ball, but the striker blazed over the crossbar when faced with Adrian.

Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United and Diego Costa of Chelsea compete for the ball during the Barclays Premier League match between West Ham United and Chelsea at Boleyn Ground on October 24, 2015 © Getty Images

The Spanish forward headed wide moments later as Jose Mourinho's side pressed, but they were made to rue those misses when the hosts took the lead after 17 minutes.

After Asmir Begovic had tipped Payet's free kick over, the Frenchman's resulting corner found its way through the box to Zarate and the Argentine made no mistake, smashing home to break the deadlock.

Willian saw a free kick from a good position pushed away by Adrian as Chelsea looked to respond, before both sides had good headed chances to go in front in the space of 60 seconds.

Mauro Zarate (2nd L) of West Ham United celebrates scoring his team's first goal with his team mates during the Barclays Premier League match between West Ham United and Chelsea at Boleyn Ground on October 24, 2015 © Getty Images

Manuel Lanzini scrambled Kurt Zouma's header clear from on the goalline and after Matic was booked for fouling Cheikhou Kouyate on the break, James Collins's header was held by Begovic.

Having kept his side ahead at one end, Lanzini then had a big chance to double the lead but the Argentine's composure let him down when he lofted the ball over the crossbar after he had been put through by Payet's fine flick six minutes before the break.

Fabregas thought that he had equalised as the half drew towards a close but saw his drilled effort ruled out for offside, before things got even worse for the visitors in the final minute of action.

Matic was shown a second yellow card for hauling down Diafra Sakho to reduce Chelsea to 10 men and leave them with a mountain to climb in the second half.