Captain Jarrod Bowen and in-form Crysencio Summerville both struck before the break to put West Ham United firmly in the driving seat at Stamford Bridge.
But having heard his side booed off after 45 forlorn minutes, Blues boss Liam Rosenior – son of former Hammers striker, Leroy – made a telling triple switch to turn those jeers to cheers come the final whistle.
Second-half goals from substitutes João Pedro and Marc Cucurella drew Chelsea level before Enzo Fernández gave the battling Blues a 3-2 victory during a frantic, furious finale that also saw Jean-Clair Todibo dismissed.
“Despite the respect I have for Chelsea, honestly it should’ve been our game today,” insisted a crestfallen Nuno Espírito Santo. “We had played really good football in the first-half, controlled play, combined well and scored.”
A crestfallen Nuno Espírito Santo after the Hammers surrendered their two-goal lead at Stamford Bridge (Image: Steve Blowers)
The head coach made one change from the previous Saturday’s win over Sunderland (3-1) with El Hadji Malick Diouf returning at left-back in place of substitute Ollie Scarles but it was on the opposite flank where the Hammers wreaked early havoc.
On seven minutes, Bowen combined with Aaron Wan-Bissaka down the right-wing before whipping in a curling cross which eluded both the stretching Pablo and diving Blues’ ‘keeper Robert Sánchez, before creeping inside the far post.
Having netted for the eighth time this season, on 36 minutes, the Hammers skipper then played in the overlapping Wan-Bissaka, whose clever cutback enabled on-fire Summerville to claim his fourth goal in four games with a crisp 18-yarder.
Following his side’s Champions League victory at Napoli (3-2) in midweek, Rosenior had made seven changes and now he tinkered again, introducing João Pedro, Cucurella and Wesley Fofana for the restart.
That right-hand channel now closed, the Hammers lost their way, while Chelsea found a route to victory.
The hour-mark approaching, Fofana’s centre was nodded home by fellow substitute João Pedro and - with Max Kilman consequently introduced as a third central-defender in place of striker Pablo – Cucurella steered a diving header over the line following a goalmouth scramble on 70 minutes.
“We started well in the second half but then allowed Chelsea to react,” continued Nuno, whose afternoon disintegrated when Fernández slammed home a 92nd-minute winner.
“Once Chelsea scored their first goal we made the change because we weren’t able to control the wide areas. Still, we didn’t defend our penalty-box properly and that’s the main reason why we lost. We tried to survive but couldn’t.”
Grabbing Joao Pedro by the throat in the final moments, Todibo – who had earlier struck the post - received a red card and a three-match ban for violent conduct after referee Anthony Taylor was guided to his pitch-side monitor.
“It’s disappointing that he’s now suspended,” grimaced Nuno. “There was lots of stress on both teams and lots of confusion but I haven’t seen the images to be able to judge what happened.”
Defeat at Stamford Bridge still leaves the Hammers in 18th spot, now six points adrift of Nottingham Forest with 14 matches remaining.
“There’s still a lot of football to be played,” concluded Nuno ahead of Saturday’s basement battle at fellow-strugglers, Burnley (kick-off 3 pm).
“We must maintain the level of performance shown in the first-half and, if we’re able to do that, we’re going to win football matches.”