Chelsea had taken the lead through Joao Felix in the first-half, latching onto Enzo Fernandez’s cross to finish in style.
The Hammers levelled the contest through former Chelsea defender Emerson Palmieri 12 minutes later with Declan Rice seeing an effort ruled out for offside in the second-half.
In the 89th minute, Conor Gallagher’s shot from the edge of the box was blocked by Tomas Soucek as he fell to the ground with the ball clearly striking his arm before it was collected by Lukasz Fabianski.
But after a brief VAR check, Chelsea’s appeals were waved away, settling for a draw at the London Stadium.
The decision caused uproar with Chelsea’s official Twitter account tweeting: ‘Soucek makes a great save from Conor Gallagher’.
That sentiment was echoed by former Manchester United defender Ferdinand and former Chelsea star Cole who felt it was clearly an intentional hand ball.
‘He more or less saved it, it was a great save,’ Ferdinand told BT Sport. ‘No wonder these players in Chelsea shirts are going bananas here, I would have been going crazy.
‘He [Soucek] gets down really well to his left, what a save that is. I can’t believe that hasn’t been given, it is unbelievable.’
Cole added: ‘The crucial thing for me is the distance Soucek was from Gallagher when he hits the ball. If he was two yards from Gallagher and it hits his arm you can argue no penalty.
‘But when you are that far away, you get a split second and he knows what he’s doing, it is a penalty.’
Chelsea manager Graham Potter believed it was a hand ball but did not dwell on the incident.
He told BT Sport: ‘It looks it but these are the little things you need to go in your favour and at the moment they are not so that’s life there is nothing to complain about. We have to keep working. There were positives today and some good attacking moment from players adapting to the Premier League.
‘We had real control of the game and it was a cheap goal from our perspective. That lifts the crowd and makes it more difficult but that is something we have to manage better. We will get better from the experience.’
MORE : ‘Graham Potter will be seething!’ – Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole slam Chelsea defending
MORE : Graham Potter explains Chelsea line-up vs West Ham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek recall
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