The Hammers kept one United fan who has vowed not to cut his hair until the Red Devils win five consecutive games waiting as they boosted their chances of survival despite the setback of Sesko’s stoppage time strike.
The manner of United’s impressive four consecutive wins since Carrick took charge had seen calls for the former midfielder, who has been appointed until the end of the season, to be handed the job on a more permanent basis.
But Nuno Espirito Santo’s men disrupted the attacking flow that Carrick’s side had shown in putting Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham to the sword in recent weeks.
Tomas Soucek converted Jarrod Bowen’s cross early in the second half to give the home side the lead.
Casemiro had an equaliser ruled out after a VAR review for offside.
But West Ham were denied a priceless win at the death when Sesko brilliantly flicked in Bryan Mbeumo’s cross.
Meanwhile, Liam Rosenior looked on course to oversee the Blues’ fifth straight Premier League win since his arrival before a depleted Leeds United battled from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge.
The failure to hold on to all three points means Chelsea have now dropped 17 from winning positions this season, 15 of them at home.
Rosenior had spoken of his players’ “extreme mental toughness” earlier in the week after they battled back from losing positions to win against West Ham United in the Premier League and Napoli in the Champions League under his watch.
Joao Pedro and a rejuvenated Cole Palmer linked up for the Brazil striker to open the scoring in the 24th minute with his sixth goal since Rosenior replaced Enzo Maresca last month.
Palmer made it 2-0 with a penalty in the 58th after Joao Pedro was needlessly shoved over by Leeds stand-in centre-half Jaka Bijol.
But just as the home fans wondered how big the winning margin was going to be, the visitors pulled a goal back with a penalty of their own, converted by Lukas Nmecha in the 67th.
By the 73rd minute Leeds were level when Chelsea failed to clear and substitute Noah Okafor tapped into an empty net.
The visitors withstood a Chelsea siege late in the game before Palmer missed from two yards in injury time, leaving the Blues fifth in the table, one point behind Manchester United.
Elsewhere, Newcastle plunged Thomas Frank’s future as Tottenham boss into serious peril by winning 2-1 in north London to inflict another damaging home defeat on the Dane.
Jacob Ramsey’s winner secured just a third away league win of the season for the Magpies to ease the pressure that had been rising on their boss Eddie Howe.
Spurs slip to 16th in the Premier League table and Frank was left in little doubt as to the home fans’ thoughts as they called for him to be “sacked in the morning.” (AFP/Reuters)
