The world champions are top of the league and they didn’t even need Cole Palmer to take them there. You don’t need players of his quality to beat a West Ham side as bad as this one.
Fates are never decided after two games, especially when everyone else has only played once, but for Chelsea this thumping victory at the London Stadium, with goals shared between Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah after Palmer pulled up in the warm-up, secured a lofty perch their owners are yet to experience since taking over the club.
Chelsea will likely only remain there until this afternoon, and if they are to keep themselves in any sort of title race, they will have to dispatch better teams than this wretched West Ham outfit along the way.
But for the first time since Todd Boehly took over and splashed more than a billion quid, he can go to sleep having taken one last look at the league table and seen his side top of it. The last time they ended a day there was in December 2021.
You imagine he will sleep better than Graham Potter, who watched his side collapse once again in embarrassing and shameful fashion. Five goals conceded, all from crosses, corners or cutbacks, to leave them bottom of the table. You don’t imagine they will move from their position quite as quickly unless something changes. They need players, and pronto.
Potter has now taken charge of as many league matches as his predecessor Julen Lopetegui was afforded before being relieved of his position. The Spaniard’s record read: 20 games, six wins, five draws, nine defeats, 23 points. After last night, Potter’s stands at 20 games, five wins, five draws, 10 defeats, 20 points. His nine points from his first 10 home Premier League games is the worst in the club’s history.
Trevoh Chalobah heads home Chelsea’s fifth goal as they thrashed West Ham on Friday
The manner of the defeat heaps more pressure on West Ham boss Graham Potter
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen looks dejected after his side’s wretched display
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The most fight anyone showed all evening was when a child ran on to the pitch in the second half and tempers boiled over when adults nearby took umbrage with the heavy-handed stewards trying to escort the little tyke back to the stands.
The stadium announcer had done his best to drum up some early atmosphere, welcoming the supporters back for a London derby under the lights. ‘What more could you want,’ he asked. You wondered whether the spattering of fans who had got to their seats early would give their answers alphabetically or in order of preference.
Some midfielders for a start, please. Ones that can run and pass and dominate games. Some leaders, for another. A defence that wouldn’t crumble after conceding one goal would be nice, too. Just a little bit of hope, is that too much to ask.
Quite high up that list, however, would be for your Brazilian playmaker, in his first competitive home game since being cleared of spot-fixing, to put one in the top corner from 25 yards inside the first 10 minutes. There was the little bit of hope.
Paqueta carried the ball forward, glanced up to see if there was anyone to pass to and, when no one took his fancy, let fly with his left foot. West Ham supporters have experienced scant moments to lift them off their seats in recent times but, boy, did this do the trick.
But this is West Ham, of course, a team that has only won twice in the league on this ground since Potter took charge. It was never going to be straightforward to secure a third, not when his defence is so adept at failing to do, as Potter called it this week, the ‘basics’.
Two goals from crosses against Sunderland and another five here. For a team that plays with five across the back, they have a real knack of having none in the vicinity of opposition players when the ball comes into the box.
The first was a simple corner into the box, flicked on at the near post by Marc Cucurella and nodded in unchallenged from yards out by Pedro. Then Trevor Chalobah pounced on Paqueta’s heavy touch before Pedro crossed low to the back post and found an unmarked Pedro Neto. Estevao, a late addition after Palmer injured himself in the warm-up, jinked his way into the box and pulled the ball back to Enzo Fernandez.
Lucas Paqueta had given West Ham the lead before Chelsea ran riot at the London Stadium
Enzo Fernandez scored Chelsea’s third in the first half after they fell behind early on
West Ham goalkeeper Mads Hermansen’s error gifted Moises Caicedo Chelsea’s fourth
Chalobah celebrates Chelsea’s fifth as they enjoyed a dominant night against their London rivals
Victory for the Blues came after they lost star man Cole Palmer to injury in the warm-up
New goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, following his dreadful debut at the Stadium of Light, flapped at two crosses in the second half to give Moises Caicedo and Chalobah the chance to get in on the act. When he dived on a bobbling ball late on, the ironic jeers from the home fans told you all you needed to know.
Potter stood with his arms crossed after the third goal and looked at the ground. The Chelsea fans waved cheerio to the streams of West Ham fans who decided now might be a decent time to get a half-time pint so they could be back in time to boo the players off the pitch.
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Would it have been any different had Jean-Clair Todibo’s toes not been offside when he crossed into the box for Niclas Fullkrug to score a goal that would have put West Ham 2-1 up. Probably not.
West Ham are in serious trouble if they do not get some legs in midfield before the window shuts. They want Matheus Fernandes from Southampton but are yet to get anywhere near the asking price.
Even the added youthful exuberance of Freddie Potts as an extra man in the middle and a tweak in system after the break did little to stop Chelsea exploiting the cavernous wasteland.
Potter said this week that no ‘silver bullet’ could fix West Ham’s troubles in the transfer window. After this, you imagine some of his side’s supporters will think there’s a different kind of bullet that could do just the trick.