West Ham 3-1 Chelsea: 3 talking points from Blues’ loss in London derby

Chelsea suffered a 3-1 defeat in their Premier League encounter against West Ham United at the London Stadium on Sunday evening. Mauricio Pochettino’s Blues team headed to east London for their second Premier League match of the season, but they struggled to match David Moyes’ side.

The hosts began with a rapid burst, as former Southampton star and recent summer signing James Ward-Prowse delivered a corner onto Nayef Aguerd’s head, who directed the ball past Robert Sanchez into the net just seven minutes into the game.

Although this wasn’t the start Chelsea had hoped for, they responded effectively midway through the first half. Carney Chukwuemeka found space in the box and equalized the match with a powerful strike.

Before halftime, CFC had a chance to take the lead. Raheem Sterling was brought down in the penalty area by Tomas Soucek, resulting in a penalty kick. Enzo Fernandez stepped up to take it, but Alphonse Areola denied the Argentine’s attempt, leaving the teams level at the break.

Despite The Blues’ dominance in the opening 45 minutes, they quickly fell behind in the second half. A swift counter-attack led to Michail Antonio scoring from a distance.

While the situation looked grim for the visiting team, a potential comeback door opened when Aguerd received a second yellow card for a poor tackle on Nicolas Jackson.