3 takeaways from free-falling Chelsea's loss to West Ham

West Ham United midfielder Mauro Zarate and forward Andy Carroll found the back of the net Saturday as the Hammers brushed aside 10-man Chelsea 2-1 to serve the Blues their fifth defeat in 10 games this season.

Gary Cahill scored an equalizer, but it wasn't enough as Carroll scored late to secure the win.

West Ham won't care for Chelsea's woes, though. Three points move Slaven Bilic's men into third place in the Premier League, ahead of Manchester United, who play on Sunday.

Here are three takeaways from Chelsea's disastrous day at Upton Park:

Chelsea suffering from discipline drama

Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic was shown a first-half red card. That alone could have been too much for the struggling Blues, but things got so, so much worse.

While TV sets around the world showed commercials at halftime, word circulated about dissent in the tunnel. When Chelsea lined back up on the field, reports emerged that Jose Mourinho had been ejected from the sidelines for attempting to enter the referee's locker room.

Both Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were given yellow cards in the tunnel for arguing with the referee, forcing Mourinho into making a change and putting John Obi Mikel into the match in Fabregas' stead.

By protesting rather than remaining composed, in one fell swoop, the Blues' midfield was crippled and the bench lost its leader in Mourinho.

Related - Chelsea breaks unwanted record as miserable season rolls on

Even goalkeeper coach Silvino Louro was ejected from the match.

A touch of bad luck

It's not just disciplinary issues that haunt Chelsea these days; the Blues simply can't catch a break, even by the narrowest of margins. Take, for example, this goal-line clearance off a Kurt Zouma shot, swatted off the line by Manuel Lanzini.

All the arguing and protesting in the world won't replace the simple fact that, with goal-line technology on their side, the referees are absolutely certain whether situations like this result in a goal or not. And, in this case, it didn't.

That's not bad form - that's bad luck.

West Ham flying high on its own merits

Add Chelsea to the list of Premier League giants West Ham has brushed aside this season: wins against Arsenal, Manchester City, and Liverpool have given Hammers fans plenty to celebrate in the early going.

West Ham didn't just outscore Chelsea, though: the Hammers also recorded more shots and created more chances while passing the ball among themselves with more accuracy. West Ham isn't in the top four of the Premier League by accident, as Bilic has created a system that is both defensively solid and can score goals.

Players like Dimitri Payet, Lanzini, Zarate, and Diafra Sakho have transformed West Ham's shape, combining pace, speed, technicality and physical prowess in complementary fashion to create a dynamic four-man attack.

Make no mistake about it - West Ham is also riding a rich vein of form that the club has struggled to find in recent years. But, none of the club's successes have come despite its performances; this is a team well-deserving of its early season highlights.