Chelsea piled on the early season misery for West Ham and its under-fire manager Graham Potter by handing out a 5-1 thrashing in the Premier League on Friday, all without injured star Cole Palmer.
Palmer pulled out of the team at the last minute after getting hurt in the warmup, before Chelsea went a goal down in the sixth minute at the Olympic Stadium after a long-range piledriver from Lucas Paqueta.
It went quickly downhill from there for West Ham, which lost at promoted Sunderland 3-0 last weekend in the opening round and was beaten even more handsomely a week later.
Chelsea had five different scorers — in Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah. Three of the goals came at corners, where West Ham’s marking was non-existent.
After Caicedo poked in the fourth goal in the 54th minute after West Ham goalkeeper Mads Hermansen flapped at an in-swinging corner, some home fans left the stadium.
A trickle of departing supporters turned into a flood from the 58th when Chalaboh hooked home a shot from close range for another goal from a corner.
Potter looked dejected on the sideline, with his position looking increasing uncertain after a poor end to last season by West Ham when the team finished 14th in the 20-team league.
There were boos at halftime and fulltime for West Ham and Potter, who coached Chelsea for seven months during the 2022-23 season before getting fired, received some abuse from fans as he walked down the tunnel.
“I’ve got to do better, we’ve got to be better,” Potter said. “I’ve got to take responsibility.”
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen said he was “fuming” about the performance as much as the result and said it's the “basic football I don’t think we’re doing well enough.”
“Everyone has to look in the mirror and be brutally honest,” Bowen added.
Estevao shines
Replacing Palmer in the Chelsea team was Estevao, a highly rated 18-year-old Brazilian winger who was making his full debut after coming on as a substitute in the 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace last weekend.
The teenager was excellent, constantly getting in behind West Ham's defense and getting an assist when he crossed for Enzo to tap in from two meters out in the 34th minute.
By that time, Pedro nodded in the equalizer from close range in the 15th after Marc Cucurella glanced on a corner to the near post. Pedro then crossed for Neto to slot home in the 23rd.
Estevao, who played for Palmeiras at the Club World Cup over the summer, came over from Brazil with a strong reputation and he backed it up against West Ham.
“Estevao played an amazing game,” Cucurella said. “He’s young but he showed that he’s very mature.”
Paqueta bounces back
Paqueta is getting his career back on course after being cleared of spot-fixing charges last month.
He has scored West Ham's first of the season for two campaigns running now and this one was a beauty, the Brazil midfielder collecting the ball just inside Chelsea’s half, advancing forward to about 25 meters out and smashing a shot that swerved past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press
