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Chelsea End 11-Year Drought with Stunning Comeback Win Over West Ham

The Blues rally from behind to secure a crucial victory, breaking their long-standing streak of struggles when facing a half-time deficit

ByKhaled Abdallah|
Jul 24, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca watches the action during a match against Wrexham at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Jul 24, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca watches the action during a match against Wrexham at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Chelsea overcame their London rivals in a key victory in their march towards a Champions League place in next season’s tournament. The match was pulsating and exciting as the Blues overcame a halftime deficit to clinch victory with second half goals from Pedro Neto and an own goal from Aaron Wan-Bissaka to leapfrog Manchester City and Newcastle United into fourth place. 

While the victory itself was remarkable, the stat shared after the match was downright shocking. Sports reporting agency HaytersTV pointed out on Twitter that this was the first time the Blues had won in the Premier League after being down at halftime since 2013.

That victory came against Southampton as the Blues won 3-1 after second half goals from Gary Cahill, John Terry and Demba Ba and the team was managed by Jose Mourinho. If that feels like ancient history then we should also point out that former Chelsea boss Maurico Pochettino was at Southampton and had not yet moved to Tottenham where he spent 5 years from 2014-19. 

This stat was shared with Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca in his post match press conference and he could hardly believe it. 

It’s understandable that this would be shocking to the manager as one would expect a side with the quality that Chelsea has had over the past 11 years to regularly come back from early deficits to take all three points. This includes title winning sides in 2015 and 2017 and several top four finishes so it’s not like Chelsea was languishing in mid-table mediocrity. 

Some of this has to do with the fact that Chelsea has traditionally had stingy defenses with five of the seasons featuring units that allowed less than a goal a game in the Premier League. They are not quite as stingy this season with 31 goals allowed in 24 matches but it’s still remarkable that this “curse” has lasted for 11 years. 

Now that the Blues have broken this curse we hope that this will lead to a turnaround and a reversion back to the standard they set early in the year when they were pushing Liverpool at the top of the table. After this weekend’s FA Cup battle with Brighton they face the Seagulls again in the league before matches against Aston Villa, Southampton and Leicester City where they will hope to continue this momentum.