Joao Pedro had a goal and two assists as Chelsea overcame an early goal to rout West Ham United 5-1 at the London Stadium on Friday.
Lucas Paqueta staked West Ham to a sixth-minute lead with a venomous left-footed strike from distance but the Blues answered with three goals before half and made it academic by the hour mark.
WATCH – West Ham v Chelsea full match replay
Moises Caicedo, Trevoh Chalobah, Enzo Fernandez, and Pedro Neto joined Pedro on the score sheet in the win, with Estevao Willian and Marc Cucurella adding assists. Estevao only started after a warm-up injury to Cole Palmer, who cooled concerns by watching the game from the bench. Blues manager Enzo Maresca said the move was precautionary as Palmer didn’t feel right and was not 100% in training this week.
Chelsea go top of the table for the moment with four points, while West Ham sink lower with a miserable minus-7 goal differential through two weeks; Graham Potter’s hosts will have done nothing to ease concerns about the English manager, who was humbled by his former club and sees his Irons slip to the bottom of the Premier League table.
Joao Pedro’s cutting edge the difference for deep Chelsea
Were Chelsea that much better in Friday’s 5-1 win than they were in the 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace. The goals tell you yes and goals are what make wins — if you haven’t heard, you have to score more than the opposition to win — but the difference between the matches was Chelsea’s readiness to feast in the box. Yes, the Blues scored off three corners but there was a hunger to win every ball in the West Ham third as all three of the aforementioned set piece goals did not come off the initial service from the corner. Joao Pedro was fantastic in the hole — sees stat card further down this page — filling in for Cole Palmer with a complete display. Teenage sensation Estevao was just as good as advertised, while Jamie Gittens only played 13 minutes and Tyrique George joined Palmer in not hitting the pitch. This is a deep Chelsea attack that could still wind up having Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku as options when the transfer window slams shut.
Enzo Maresca reaction — Chelsea boss happy with response
Rough start with Palmer injury, West Ham goal: “Quite difficult. Cole’s problem during the warm-up and then we conceded a goal but the reaction was very good. In the end, we deserved to win the game.”
On how Chelsea responded to going down 1-0: “For sure it’s impressive but it’s what I expected. There was still an entire game to go. There was plenty of time to recover the game. The most important thing is the players continue with the plan.”
On Estevao Willian: “He has to adapt. The goal we conceded comes from a flick in the middle of the pitch. Then we conced. It’s 07, he’s very young. a fantastic player.”
What’s next?
West Ham have a chance to try some things at 2:30pm ET Tuesday when they go to Wolves for the League Cup second round, then they’re away from home for a Week 3 trip to Nottingham Forest at 9am on Sunday, August 31.
Chelsea host Fulham at 7:30am ET on Saturday, August 30.
How to watch West Ham vs Chelsea live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 3pm ET Friday
Venue: London Stadium — East London
TV Channel: USA
Streaming: Watch live on NBC.com
West Ham vs Chelsea final score: 1-5
Lucas Paqueta 6', Joao Pedro 15', Pedro Neto 23', Enzo Fernandez 34', Moises Caicedo 54', Trevoh Chalobah 58'
Joao Pedro’s stats tell a thrilling tale
Joao Pedro - Chelsea stats vs West Ham (from fotmob.com)
Joao Pedro - Chelsea stats vs West Ham (from fotmob.com)
West Ham vs Chelsea extended video highlights
Full time — West Ham 1-5 Chelsea
Bittersweet relief for the Irons. This was not a close one.
Subs for both
Kyle Walker-Peters replaced Tomas Soucek for West Ham, while Chelsea bring on Wesley Fofana and Jorrel Hato for Marc Cucurella and Trevor Chalobah.
Chelsea brought Reece James and Andrey Santos into the game for Malo Gusto and Liam Delap prior to that.
About 20 minutes left in East London.
Trevoh Chalobah goal — West Ham 1-5 Chelsea
Another goal off a corner kick, and set piece defense is on the training menu for the Irons.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka wins the first service but Joao Pedro takes the second and sends it back into the mix, where Chalobah gets it over the line.
Moises Caicedo goal — West Ham 1-4 Chelsea
The 54th minute finds Mads Hermansen with a significant error.
Hermansen comes for a corner kick and weakly slaps it toward the other side of the box.
Moises Caicedo snaps the loose ball into the upper reaches of the goal.
West Ham subs
Callum Wilson and Freddie Potts enter the game for Fullkrug and Todibo.
Halftime — West Ham 1-3 Chelsea
No Cole Palmer, no problem.
Five goals. Four counted. What just happened?
Shot attempts are 5-5 but Chelsea have had 65% of the ball and have picked two occasions to just slice through the Irons back line.
Enzo Fernandez goal — West Ham 1-3 Chelsea
Liam Delap’s little touch is an invitation for Estevao Willian, who drives into the box and crosses to the back post.
Enzo Fernandez gets to the ball just as Diouf’s sliding challenge clips him. 3-1.
Pedro Neto goal — West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
Now West Ham want a Chelsea goal pulled back after Trevoh Chalobah stepped in front of Paqueta and floored the Brazilian.
It didn’t look like a foul, and Chelsea pounce to make it 2-1 as Neto passes home at the far post off a cross from Pedro.
Niclas Fullkrug goal offside
Chelsea are up in arms about something as the Irons felt they were ahead through Niclas Fullkrug.
He hit a deflected shot past Robert Sanchez, but the automated offside sees 2/3 of Fullkrug’s front foot ahead of the final Chelsea defender.
Joao Pedro goal — West Ham 1-1 Chelsea
Level at the quarter-hour mark, off a corner kick.
The service is met at the front post by Marc Cucurella, who leaps back to goal to nods the ball toward the back post.
Pedro heads into the open goal to level the score.
Lucas Paqueta goal — West Ham 1-0 Chelsea
Malick Diouf picks up a turnover on the left flank and pushes the ball central to Lucas Paqueta.
The London Stadium soon erupts in joy as Paqueta goes straight toward the box before lashing his left foot into a vicious strike that leaves Robert Sanchez clawing the air.
Wow. That was a 0.01 xG shot for Paqueta, according to fotmob.com.
Blues front four reshaped
Liam Delap is up top with Joao Pedro behind him, Pedro Neto on the left, and Estevao Willian on the right.
Cole Palmer scratched
A late change to the Chelsea XI, as Cole Palmer is out in favor of young Estevao Willian.
We’ll have more information as soon as it becomes available.
Palmer’s been pictured on the Chelsea bench in a large coat.
James, Areola to benches
West Ham will have ex-Leicester City man Mads Hermansen between the sticks as they seek a first point of the season.
Enzo Maresca move Reece James to the bench in a front-footed attack that will see Liam Delap up top and Joao Pedro also in the XI.
West Ham United lineup
Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Aguerd, Diouf, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Bowen, Fullkrug
Chelsea lineup
Sanchez, Gusto, Chalobah, Adarabioyo, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Neto, Palmer, Pedro, Delap
West Ham vs Chelsea preview
Potter’s Hammers were beaten 3-0 by promoted Sunderland at a rowdy Stadium of Light, putting some early pressure on the manager whose career was thrown a bit off-kilter by a rough tenure with Chelsea in 2022-23.
Adding insult to injury is Potter’s 0W-4D-3L record against Chelsea during his time as manager of Brighton and West Ham. That includes a 2-1 loss last February at Stamford Bridge.
WATCH – West Ham v Chelsea
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea have a Club World Cup under their belt but slipped to a draw vs Crystal Palace in Week 1 of this Premier League season as their new attack failed to find finish at Selhurst Park.
The Blues have high expectations this season but anything other than a win over West Ham in East London would create a little unease for Todd Boehly’s project in West London.
West Ham team news, focus
OUT: Luis Guilherme (shoulder), Crysencio Summerville (thigh), George Earthy (ankle)
Chelsea team news, focus
OUT: Romeo Lavia (undisclosed), Levi Colwill (torn ACL - MORE), Benoit Badiashile (knock), Mykhailo Mudryk (suspension), Omari Kellyman (thigh) | QUESTIONABLE: Tosin Adarabioyo (undisclosed)
West Ham vs Chelsea prediction
Both the Irons and Blues are better than their Week 1 outcomes, and their performances were better than their score lines. Chelsea need to find cutting edge and West Ham will have to be more sound at the back. The former is more likely than the latter. West Ham 1-2 Chelsea.
