West Ham made it an unbelievable 15 points thrown away from winning positions under Nuno Espirito Santo after surrendering a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Chelsea.
The Hammers looked on course for a third straight win when they led 2-0 at half-time of this crucial London derby.
But an all too common meek second half surrender leaves West Ham staring relegation in the face as they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
West Ham had been so impressive and so brave in the first 45 minutes but threw it all away with their second half meltdown which culminated in Jean-Clair Todibo receiving a straight red card for grabbing Joao Pedro by the throat.
Todibo will now miss the next three games.
The end was carnage and spoiled what was a pulsating match.
Brainless 2/10 star sums up West Ham
West Ham’s positive start reaped its reward eight minutes in when that man Jarrod Bowen put Nuno Espirito Santo’s side 1-0 up.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka did brilliantly to rob Alejandro Garnacho of the ball in Chelsea’s half.
It’s a painful one – but who was your MOTM vs Chelsea and why?!
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Chelsea v West Ham United - Premier League
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It would have been tempting to swing in a hopeful cross but Wan-Bissaka neatly found Bowen who took the ball away from goal on the edge of the box and curled in his own in-swinging cross.
Pablo extended a leg to try and get a touch and it was the perfect decoy to delay Robert Sanchez’s reactions as Bowen’s cross bounced into the Chelsea net, sparking wild celebrations from the travelling West Ham army in the away end.
It was almost 2-0 on 15 minutes when more excellent work saw the Hammers work the ball to Bowen on the edge of the box once more.
Chelsea v West Ham United - Premier League
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The skipper played a delicate little through pass into the box for the overlapping Taty, he hesitated and delayed his shot too long but nevertheless hit a stinging drive straight at Sanchez who did well to not only stop it but keep hold of it too.
A shot across goal first time would have been the better choice from the Argentine striker.
West Ham were by far the better team despite the surrendering the lion’s share of possession.
On 36 minutes it was deservedly 2-0 – and what a goal it was too.
Another lovely ball out wide from the excellent Mateus Fernandes was brilliantly controlled by Bowen on the run. He had Chelsea panicking as he advanced, and with good reason.
This time it was Bowen finding Wan-Bissaka with a nice pass into the box and the Spider cut the ball back perfectly for the on-rushing Crysencio Summerville who supplied a simply sumptuous curling side-footed finish from just inside the box.
Sublime to ridiculous for West Ham in pathetic Chelsea surrender
West Ham threatened twice more before the break through Summerville and Wan-Bissaka and had they gone in at half-time 3-0 up, Chelsea could not have complained.
Blues fans, who like West Ham’s are currently protesting against their owners, audibly booed what they were watching and those jeers ramped up on the half-time whistle.
Late heartbreak 😡 Where did it all go wrong?!
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A graphic showing the full-time score between Chelsea and West Ham (3-2) in the Premier League on 31/01/2026.
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Gary Neville said it best when summarising that ‘West Ham had ripped Chelsea apart down the right-hand side’.
The statistics backed that up with 56 per cent of West Ham’s attacks coming down the right compared to 23 per cent on the left and 21 per cent through the middle.
Former Hammer Rob Green said he had never seen numbers that high for one side in a Premier League game.
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo shouts on the touchline during the Premier League game against Chelsea.
Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP via Getty Images
Liam Rosenior made changes at the break to address the issue. But Bowen and Wan-Bissaka combined in the opening moments to work the ball forward and it resulted in a fierce shot from the edge of the box from Fernandes which was pawed away by Sanchez.
A free-kick in the final third soon after was cleverly slipped behind Chelsea’s backline by Fernandes but Bowen fired straight at Sanchez.
The big question for the second half was could West Ham sustain it.
The answer was no. And West Ham’s inability to even come close to keeping a clean sheet cost them dear yet again.
West Ham have thrown away 12 points from winning positions under Nuno. That became 14 as Chelsea suddenly woke up to the fact the Hammers aren’t very good at defending crosses.
Both Blues goals came from balls whipped into the box as the scores were far too easily levelled up.
West Ham did not completely go under, though, to the credit, weathering the storm as Nuno brought on Max Kilman and essentially settled for trying to take a point back to east London.
Todibo woe as Hammers self-destruct
It backfired, though, when Enzo Fernandez scored in the dying moments of a game which sums up West Ham’s entire dismal season.
You cannot just give up three goals in that manner when your Premier League lives are on the line and now the Hammers really are staring into the abyss.
If Nuno can keep the team playing as they did in the first half there may still be hope.
But if West Ham continue to wave the white flag like they did again in this chaotic collapse, then they have no chance of catching any of the teams above them.
West Ham player ratings vs Chelsea:
Alphonse Areola, 7/10: Made a brilliant save that was worth a goal but it ended up counting for little in the end. Some may question his command of the box given Chelsea’s first goal but he has been one of the team’s better performers overall under Nuno.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 8/10: Would have been 10/10 had he continued the form he showed in the first half. Could perhaps have done more to help Mavropanos for Chelsea’s first.
Konstantinos Mavropanos, 7/10: Good overall but the same old story, the big Greek cannot get through a game without making a costly mistake. He was caught under the ball for the first.
Jean-Clair Todibo, 2/10: Great in the first 45 but struggled in the second and downgraded for a brainless red card with West Ham fighting for their lives. That moment summed this team up – zero intelligence and discipline.
West Ham defender Jean-Clair Todibo is sent off for violent conduct after clashing with Joao Pedro
Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP via Getty Images
El Hadji Malick Diouf, 6/10: Harsh on Ollie Scarles that Diouf replaced him. Like most of the team he did well in the first half and struggled in the second with most of Chelsea’s joy coming from his side.
Tomas Soucek, 6/10: Worked tirelessly as always but struggled when suffocated on the ball in the second half.
Mateus Fernandes, 6.5/10: Was on course for a 9/10 with an excellent first half display. But Fernandes was overwhelmed in the second half and it must be remembered he is still only 21 years old.
Crysencio Summerville, 8/10: Another lovely goal and another positive performance. If West Ham are to have any hope of survival, the Dutchman needs to stay fit and in this kind of form.
Jarrod Bowen, 8/10: Tore Chelsea apart in the first half but Marc Cucurella stopped the flood and in the end Bowen was forced off injured and exhausted.
Pablo, 6.5/10: Worked tirelessly and played his part in the first goal but lacks quality.
Taty Castellanos, 6.5/10: Has more quality on the ball than Pablo and works just as hard. But West Ham needed more pace and power up front if they were going to blast their way up the league.
SUBS: Kilman, Wilson, Traore, Scarles – 6/10: None made a particularly positive impact as the Hammers crumbled.
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