No Cole Palmer, no problem! Chelsea thrash West Ham 5-1 to pile pressure on former boss Graham Potter | Football News
Chelsea secured a commanding 5-1 victory against West Ham on Friday after falling behind early in the match. Former Chelsea manager Graham Potter faces mounting pressure after winning only five out of 21 games since taking charge in January.The result follows West Ham’s disappointing 3-0 loss to newly-promoted Sunderland last weekend. Lucas Paqueta gave West Ham an early lead with an impressive strike.“It was a tough evening for us. Against a top team, to concede the goals in the manner we have, it is an impossible task,” Potter said.Chelsea’s response was swift, with Joao Pedro scoring from a corner. Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez extended Chelsea’s lead further.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Moises Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah capitalised on mistakes by West Ham’s new goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. The win propelled Chelsea to the top of the Premier League for the first time since December 2021.Chelsea faced a setback before the match when Cole Palmer withdrew during warm-up due to a muscle injury.“The last four or five days he was not 100 percent. We prefer not to take any risks and we see in the next hours (how serious the injury is),” Maresca stated.Palmer’s absence provided an opportunity for Brazilian youngster Estevao to make his first Premier League start. Another Brazilian, Paqueta, opened the scoring with a spectacular goal.Paqueta had recently been cleared of spot-fixing allegations by an independent regulatory commission. The 27-year-old celebrated emotionally, pointing to his club badge after scoring.West Ham’s lead lasted only nine minutes before Chelsea’s comeback began. Joao Pedro scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea, heading in from Marc Cucurella’s corner.West Ham thought they had regained the lead through Niclas Fuellkrug, but VAR ruled it offside. Pedro then assisted Neto for Chelsea’s second goal.Estevao, an 18-year-old talent who previously scored against Chelsea for Palmeiras, showed impressive pace. He assisted Fernandez for Chelsea’s third goal after 34 minutes.West Ham’s transfer activity has been minimal during the summer window. Their new goalkeeper Hermansen, signed for £20 million from Leicester, made crucial errors leading to Chelsea’s fourth and fifth goals. Caicedo capitalised on Hermansen’s dropped corner for the fourth goal. Chalobah added the fifth after another corner kick error by the goalkeeper.Many home supporters left the stadium with 30 minutes remaining, while those who stayed expressed their disappointment at full-time. Potter, who was dismissed from Chelsea in 2023 after seven months, now faces pressure to improve West Ham’s performance.
