The FIFA Club World Cup champions chalked up their first Premier League win of the season in style on Friday night
Chelsea obliterated London rivals West Ham United 5-1 on a chaotic evening in the capital's east end. The Blues' first Premier League win of the season came in some style as Enzo Maresca's men put on a clinic to go top of the table.
The visitors were rocked just before kick-off as Cole Palmer had to pull out of the starting XI after sustaining an injury in the warmup, allowing Estevao Willian to come in for his first start for the club. However, the Brazilian was shown up by his compatriot after giving the ball away leading to West Ham's opener minutes into the game. A cheeky flick was cut out in his own half by Nayef Aguerd, with Lucas Paqueta afforded the freedom to run forward with the loose ball. He unleashed a fierce strike from 25 yards right across goalkeeper Robert Sanchez into the top corner and kissed the Hammers badge following two tumultuous years 'in hell' battling spot-fixing allegations.
However, Chelsea weren't behind for long and levelled after a quarter of an hour. Pedro Neto's corner to the near post was flicked up by Marc Cucurella, and Joao Pedro rose highest to nod home at close range. Within 90 seconds of equalising, the Blues thought they had fallen behind again as they failed to deal with Jean-Clair Todibo's cutback into the box, and Niclas Fullkrug slammed home at the back stick - only for VAR to intervene and deem the French centre-back offside when receiving the ball in the first place.
A manic first half swung the way of Chelsea when Trevoh Chalobah won the ball off Paqueta in the attacking third, and Pedro's cross was tapped in by namesake Pedro Neto at the far post, much to the joy of the travelling supporters. Before the break, the Blues added another too, with Liam Delap holding the ball up for Estevao to run with it and cut it back for Enzo Fernandez to convert.
Graham Potter was not happy and made two substitutions at half-time - Freddie Potts and Callum Wilson on for Todibo and Fullkrug - in an attempt to stem the tide, but that didn't stop Moises Caicedo adding a fourth after the restart. New goalkeeper Mads Hermansen completely flapped at a Fernandez corner, and the Ecuadorian midfielder was able to flick the ball in with the outside of his boot off the underside of the bar. A fifth followed from Chelsea's following corner almost immediately from kick-off, with Trevoh Chalobah the next man up to take his place on the scoresheet.
If Chelsea really wanted to, they probably could have put another two or three past Hermansen before full-time, but showed some mercy and kept it at just the five as the tempo slowed down in the closing stages. GOAL rates Chelsea's players from London Stadium...