The Blues came into the London derby against West Ham with a chance to jump back into the top four for the first time in weeks. Weekend results for other top four rivals where Newcastle, Manchester City, and Bournemouth all felt defeat and opened the door for Chelsea to get back to a Champions League spot in the table.
Chelsea started off brightly but they could not capitalize on early pressure and began to fade midway through the first half. They peppered the West Ham goal with shots from range and Jadon Sancho came close with a curling effort but failed to get it on target and challenge the keeper.
West Ham began to pressure Filip Jörgensen’s goal, in for the beleaguered Robert Sanchez, but he held firm with some smart saves and handled himself well in a rare Premier League appearance. It looked as if both clubs would be happy to go to the dressing rooms at halftime all tied up until disaster struck for the Blues.
A long ball down the channel was won by Soucek and Kudus pressured Levi Colwill, who was arguably fouled, but the Chelsea defender made a horrendous error and sent a backpass straight into the path of Jarrod Bowen. The West Ham skipper still had some work to do but he was clear on goal and made no mistake slotting past a sprawling Jorgenson. Against the run of play it was West Ham up 1-0 and Cole Palmer’s brilliant free kick was saved shortly after to maintain the Hammers’ advantage.
The second half was the turning point as Enzo Maresca made two substitutions in the 52nd minute, sending on Pedro Neto and Marc Guiu for Sancho and Nico Jackson. Neto was the star man as he began challenging the West Ham defense and 12 minutes after coming on, slotted home his own cross after a chaotic moment in the Hammers’ box.
Neto’s goal energized the Stamford Bridge crowd and after some neat link up play between him, Marc Cucurella, and Palmer, the young Englishman let fly a speculative shot/cross from deep in the box that took a fortunate deflection and nestled in the net. The turnaround was complete and the Blues were finally in front at the 74th minute but it would not be so straightforward.
Thanks to some desperate defending and grit from the attacking players, the Blues were able to hold on and keep them at bay. The closest West Ham came to equalizing was deep into stoppage time as Kudus had a golden chance but was blocked by a great effort from Tosin Adarabioyo. It was a great effort from the Blues to come back from a goal down and supporters will be hoping that this is the start of a turnaround for Chelsea in the Premier League.