Cole Palmer is less involved but still scoring for Chelsea, who proved Enzo Maresca has made them a more balanced team in their comfortable win over West Ham.
Chelsea were impressive and comfortable at the London Stadium but West Ham were catastrophically bad and that is worth talking about first. Julen Lopetegui’s 37th-minute substitution emphasised just how dire it was, bringing Tomas Soucek on for Guido Rodriguez.
Lopetegui thought Rodriguez and Edson Alvarez could win the midfield battle against the Blues’ two £100million stars, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, and they absolutely could not. Saying that, the game was not lost in the midfield, it was lost all over the pitch.
It took four minutes for Maresca’s side to take the lead and the goal set the tone for the Hammers. A free-kick not taken relatively quickly was nevertheless rapid enough to expose a switched-off West Ham. Nicolas Jackson received the ball 50 yards from goal and ran all the way through to slot the ball through Alphonse Areola’s legs. It was embarrassing but Lopetegui was a different kind of red-faced.
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Jackson’s celebration might have looked like the Thriller dance to you, but we think he was impersonating Alvarez’s attempt to catch up with him.
Setting up with two unathletic defensive midfielders is certainly a mood and when you do that, you’d expect the back four to be well protected, which was unfortunately not the case.
More awful out-of-possession play allowed Moises Caicedo to slip through Jackson for his second of the game after 18 minutes, scoring a lovely trivela one-on-one with Areola on the weekend that EAFC came out, which was fitting. If you know, you know.
It was game, set, and match within 90 seconds of the second half kicking off when Palmer scored from Jackson’s assist on the counter. Lopetegui responded with a couple of substitutions but neither Carlos Soler nor Michail Antonio could help make the score more respectable.
Some people will insist that West Ham fans should have been careful what they wished for after hounding out Europa Conference League-winning manager David Moyes but the decision to part ways with the Scot will forever be spot on. The appointment of his Spanish doppelganger might not be, though.
It is too early to tell if Lopetegui is the right man for the job and there have been lots of changes at the club with so many new players joining in the summer transfer window. He does not yet know his strongest XI but cannot be setting up at home with a pivot of Rodriguez and Alvarez.
The lack of creativity and athleticism is alarming, but not as alarming as how easily exposed they were defensively when they are supposedly two ball-winning defensive midfielders. Lopetegui realised it early on when he swapped Rodriguez for Soucek but the latter hardly adds athleticism, does he? Sure, he is better in the air and much more useful in the final third, but it didn’t change much.
Lopetegui’s back four were often caught out in transition and 3-0 flattered West Ham, if truth be told. Chelsea spurned chance after chance in the second half but won’t be too bothered; this was an incredibly mature and balanced performance from a team who looked extremely immature and out of sorts this time last year.
On matchday two last season, Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by West Ham at the London Stadium. Caicedo made his Blues debut and had the worst afternoon of his career and Mauricio Pochettino was still working out what system and players to play.
Maresca already appears to have a good idea what his best team is and Caicedo exorcised his demons with a great performance, though Reece James and Malo Gusto’s injury problems are frustrating, forcing Wesley Fofana to right-back against the Irons. The Frenchman had his problems against Crysencio Summerville and was fortunate not to concede a penalty, but Chelsea were very good defensively, forcing West Ham’s best attackers into tight spaces and proving very difficult to penetrate.
Knowing your best XI by matchday five is a huge positive given the size of Chelsea’s squad and how long it took Pochettino to work that particular conundrum out.
The overall balance of the side has allowed Palmer to shake off the huge weight that has been on his shoulders. Under Pochettino, it was all about giving Palmer the ball and hoping for the best, but that is absolutely not the case with Maresca in charge. He is much less involved, making Chelsea a better team. The best thing is that Palmer is still consistently scoring and assisting.
Jackson’s form is another huge positive. He has more non-penalty goals in the Premier League than Mohamed Salah since he joined Chelsea.
It is now up to Chelsea and Maresca to continue this momentum, because it would be very typical for them to go and lose at home to Brighton next week.
As for West Ham, they have a trip to Anfield in the Carabao Cup to look forward to before a tricky trip to Brentford. Much improvement is needed.
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