0 Comments
Chelsea moved to 4th in the Premier League with a victory against West Ham.
A Pedro Neto tap in and an Aaron Wan-Bissaka own goal created by Cole Palmer was enough to see the Blues edge past the Hammers after Jarrod Bowen initially put them 1-0 up.
Ahead of this London derby, Enzo Maresca gifted Danish goalkeeper Philip Jorgensen his first ever Premier League start, after he joined from Villareal for £20 million last summer. He replaced the error-prone Robert Sanchez, who started last weekend against Manchester City.
Graham Potter was without Lucas Paqueta on is return to Stamford Bridge, so Andy Irving was brought in to replace him. Jarrod Bowen also returned to the starting XI for his first game of 2025.
It was a cagey start to the game, with 4 fouls being given in the opening 8 minutes. That would set the tone for the first half, where 11 fouls were committed all together.
Chelsea would get the first chance of the game when Noni Madueke came close after cutting inside from the right hand side, but his whipped shot fired past the left post and off target.
The majority of Stamford Bridge held their breath in the 27th minute when Nicolas Jackson went down clutching his hamstring, but after a few minutes down the Senegalese striker returned to the action.
The game was quiet after this up until the 42nd minute, where the lively Mohammed Kudus leaped up to challenge Levi Colwill in attempt to meet a high Alphonse Areola ball over the top. The former Brighton loanee was pressed aggressively once the ball had landed, and a loose back pass was quickly collected by Jarrod Bowen, who calmly slotted home to open the scoring.
Just minutes later, Nicolas Jackson won a free kick just outside the edge of the box. Cole Palmer sent an effort hurtling towards the top right hand corner, but Areola was equal to his effort and brilliantly flicked it over the bar.
West Ham started the second half the better of the two sides, prompting Enzo Maresca into early changes, with Nicolas Jackson and Jadon Sancho being replaced by Marc Guiu and Pedro Neto.
It’s now 7 matches without a goal for Jackson, but an inexperienced Marc Guiu is understudying his position, and has played most of his football so far in Blue in the Europa Conference League. Perhaps it was unwise of Chelsea to rule against dipping into the January market, as talented strikers like Mathys Tel and Santiago Gimenez moved to pastures new at Tottenham and AC Milan respectively.
Chelsea captain Reece James was the first player to enter the book in the 58th minute. The resulting free kick from deep saw Aaron Cresswell attempt to bend the ball into the bottom left hand corner left empty by Jorgensen, but the ball zipped well wide of the goal.
Reece James would depart the action alongside Noni Madueke in the 61st minute, with the French duo of Malo Gusto and Christopher Nkunku replacing them. It was a strange January transfer window for Nkunku, who seemed highly likely to be leaving the club with Bayern Munich and Manchester United linked with the forward.
Just 3 minutes later, Enzo Fernandez fired a low shot at Areola from a few yards out that was heroically blocked by Vladimír Coufal. As a result, the ball broke rather fortunately out towards the right hand side, where Pedro Neto was perfectly poised to tap into a virtually empty net to equalise. A lengthy VAR check ruled the goal was to stand, and Neto picked up his 5th goal of the season.
West Ham made their first changes in the 72nd minute, when Oli Scarles and Konstantinos Mavropanos replaced Emerson and Vladimír Coufal. It was a sweet moment for the 19-year-old Scarles, who was rejected by Chelsea at age 12 before breaking through the Hammer’s academy and into the first team.
These changes weren’t enough to stop the momentum Chelsea were building. As play entered the 74th minute, Cole Palmer advanced on the edge of the West Ham box. After breaking down the left and coming face to face with Wan-Bissaka, the former City midfielder sent in what seemed to be a cross upon reflection, but an unfortunate deflection off of Wan-Bissaka saw the ball sail over a helpless Alphonse Areola and into the back of the net to give Chelsea the lead.
Graham Potter rolled the dice once more in the 77th minute, replacing Andy Irving and Carlos Soler with Danny Ings and Lewis Orford. Despite this tactical blend of experience and youth, his side struggled to find a way back into the game.
In the final moments of the seven minuted added on at the end of the game, substitute Konstantinos Mavropanos would have two good chances to score. The first in the 96th when he planted a free header comfortably into the chest of Philip Jorgensen, and another a minute later where he bulldozed his way through Chelsea’s midfield to the edge of the box, but fired a low effort with his right foot straight at a grateful Jorgensen again.
Chelsea move to 4th, two points above Manchester City and Newcastle. They travel to Brighton for two games in a row now, against them in the FA Cup on Saturday night and in the Premier League next Friday night.
West Ham move to 15th, a comfortable 10 points off the relegation zone but seven points of Brighton in 10th. They return to the London Stadium next Saturday against Brentford for yet another London derby,
