Chelsea beat West Ham 5-1 at the London Stadium, with goals from João Pedro, Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah. Lucas Paquetá gave West Ham a sixth-minute lead with a spectacular swerving, dipping shot, but Chelsea equalized nine minutes later and then exploited defensive frailties to score five goals, many from crosses. The win moved Chelsea to the top of the table for the first time since December 2021. West Ham produced a woeful display that left manager Graham Potter under pressure and saw Niclas Füllkrug have a goal ruled out by VAR.
Meanwhile, as the new world club champions shook off the dust following their opening-day goalless draw with Crystal Palace, West Ham slipped to the bottom of the table after a woeful display, the sort that gets managers sacked. Graham Potter, whose side lost 3-0 at Sunderland last weekend, now has a worse record from his 20 matches in charge than Julen Lopetegui, the man he replaced in January.
Yet Potter may have felt his luck was about to change against his old club when Palmer was injured in the warm-up, with 18-year-old Brazilian Estêvão replacing him. Then, from nowhere, Paquetá gave West Ham a sixth-minute lead, launching a spectacular swerving, dipping shot over Blues goalkeeper Robert Sánchez. But it was a case of no Palmer, no problem against a Hammers side this inept and nine minutes later Chelsea were level.
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