Jacob Steinberg was at the London Stadium tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Enzo Maresca’s turn to speak to Sky. “It was quite difficult … Cole’s problem during the warm-up, and then we conceded a goal … the reaction was very good … we continued to play in the way we planned … we deserved to win the game … there was plenty of time to recover in the game … even tonight I think we can do many things better … after three or four goals we can manage the ball better … but we improved compared to Palace … we are very happy with Estevao … also very happy with the rest … we are very happy with the 5-1!”
He also reports that Palmer “in the last four or five days was not 100 percent … during the warm-up he again felt something … we did not take the risk … we will see in the next hours.”
Potter is also asked by Sky about some “really vile abuse” he copped from irate fans while walking down the tunnel after the game. “I can’t control what people say or do from the outside … everybody is entitled to their opinions, I understand that, I respect that … I’ve got to do better … we have to do better … we have to take that responsibility.”
As for transfers: “It would be a bit obtuse of me to speak about signings when we have to do better … solve problems … do more than we are as a group … but try to strengthen while the window is open.”
Graham Potter’s turn to talk to Sky. “A tough evening for us … disappointed with the result and the manner of the goals we conceded after starting the game well … too cheap against a top team … to concede the goals in the manner we have gives us an impossible task … goals change games … affect things too much … we have to do better … we have to improve a lot … we were a little bit unlucky with the offside goal … fine margins … we’ve got a game on Tuesday night which gives us a chance to look at different players … clearly what we’re doing at the moment isn’t enough … I have to look at myself … I’m the head coach, I’m responsible for the team … the team isn’t performing as well as we’d like … I have to take that responsibility … we’re not getting the most out of the players … we need to get more … that’s my job … it’s a collective … as much as it’s nice to point fingers and blame people, we’re hurting … we’re all responsible … nobody is throwing anybody under the bus here … we have to do better.”
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen speaks to Sky. “Fuming … disappointed … all the emotions that come off the back of conceding eight goals in two games and not picking up a point yet … we got ourselves into a really good position at 1-0 … then the goals were really cheap on our behalf … didn’t make them work on set pieces, which we’ve always prided ourselves over the years … a couple of finishes from inside our six-yard box … we kind of gifted the goals away … we learned that at Sunderland last week, and we learned it again tonight … this is a collective … when things aren’t going well you have to point the finger at every single person … we have to all look at ourselves … the players are out there on the pitch, the manager can’t influence that … you have a plan … football has always been football … basic football we’re not doing well enough … as captain I’m fuming … it’s down to me to get a reaction from everyone … the fans don’t want me to be speaking about these things, they want to see it on the pitch … I want to see it as well … stay in the game … this is the Premier League … when you concede five goals, that whole thing is out the window, then it’s not embarrassed by conceding six, seven or eight … everyone has to look in the mirror … have some honest conversations with ourselves and as a group … the international break will be a long, dark place if we go into it after three defeats.”
For what it’s worth, eight days in, the top of the Premier League looks like this …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Man City | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | Sunderland | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 1 | 2 | 3 |
… while West Ham fans will dream of the old days when newspapers waited a good few weeks before publishing the first table of the season.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | AFC Bournemouth | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| 17 | Brentford | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| 18 | Burnley | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| 19 | Wolverhampton | 1 | -4 | 0 |
| 20 | West Ham | 2 | -7 | 0 |
Chelsea are delighted, though, the frustrations of last weekend’s goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace forgotten in a flash, and Marc Cucurella speaks to Sky. “We are very happy … in the last game we missed something … we didn’t play our style … at the beginning we were sloppy but the attitude was very good … we played good football … Estevao played an amazing game … we have a good squad and all of us are ready at any time … Estevao is very young but very mature … a good talent … we have an amazing squad and hopefully we can do good things this season.”
Graham Potter wears the stunned and queasy look of a man who knows the jig might already be up. The fans are seriously displeased, and David Sullivan had been pictured earlier with a face like thunder. Too early to pull the trigger? Probably. But that’s two games, two thumpings, and West Ham didn’t exactly impress during last season’s run-in either. Potter has now lost 11 of his 21 matches in charge. A big last few days in the transfer window coming up for both club and manager; a big match for them both at Wolves in the League Cup next Tuesday, too. With Nottingham Forest away in the Premier League next weekend, and more London derbies on the horizon against Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Arsenal, things aren’t going to get any easier for West Ham and their beleaguered boss.
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FULL TIME: West Ham United 1-5 Chelsea
For the second season running, Chelsea respond to an underwhelming opening-day result with a big away win. West Ham’s performance is met with loud booing … from the fans who have stuck it out until the end. A lot of them already long gone.
90 min +1: A cross comes into the West Ham box from the right. Neto meets it with his head, sending it onto the outstretched arm of Aguerd. He wants a penalty, but VAR considers the players too close together. Nothing doing. It might have been a different decision had the scoreline been 0-0, but we’ll never know about that.
90 min: Three minutes of additional agony for the Hammers.
89 min: … and it pings off Caicedo and out for a corner. Ward-Prowse sends it long from the left. Kilman wins an uncontested header six yards out, but sends it harmlessly wide right. West Ham have been dismal overall, and yet they’ve had their chances in this second half.
88 min: Ward-Prowse tries to bring a loose ball down on the edge of the Chelsea D, but is brought down himself by the loose leg of Fofana. Free kick just to the right of the D. Ward-Prowse to take it himself ...
87 min: Anyway, on the subject of fans leaving early, Alexander Smith reports: “I live close to the stadium and looked out at the road used by home fans to access public transport. I thought the match had just finished as there were streams of people cascading down the road - but with none of the usual jovial chanting. I figured it was a loss for West Ham, but it was only when I searched up the live blog that I saw the score and realised it was only the 60th minute of the game!
86 min: Bowen has never stopped running, though, and now his hard-driving style wins a corner down the right off Tosin. Ward-Prowse swings it in, and Aguerd clanks another header over the bar.
85 min: This match is petering out, a state of affairs West Ham will take. They won’t want any more scoreboard punishment.
83 min: Neto jinks his way down the right and draws a cynical foul from Diouf. The referee’s card remains in his pocket. Neto felt that, though. To be fair, Diouf is apologetic and offers the hand of friendship, helping his man back up.
81 min: … Aguerd heads harmlessly over. West Ham unable to pull off Chelsea’s trick.
80 min: Bowen is sent scampering down the right flank by Walker-Peters, and wins himself a corner. From which …
79 min: … meanwhile there are a lot of empty seats around the stadium. Plenty of home fans have departed in high dudgeon. The ones who remain are serenaded by the away end. “Can we play you every week?”
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78 min: Chelsea stroke it around the middle of the park. Their fans with the olés. Already. Any old excuse …
77 min: Gittens comes on for Estevao, who has made quite the impression tonight. Colder than Cole?
76 min: Neto probes down the left but can’t find anyone in black in the middle. Chelsea want six. Then they can consider seven, and then Blackburn Rovers.
74 min: For the record, West Ham’s biggest home defeat was an 8-2 loss to Blackburn Rovers at Upton Park on that Boxing Day in 1963. We’re not in that arena yet.
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72 min: … and it’s nearly six for Chelsea, with Estevao sent clear down the inside-right channel by James. He overthinks upon entering the box, and can neither get round Diouf nor dink over Hermansen.
71 min: Walker-Peters comes on for Soucek, and is immediately in the thick of the action. Wilson dances through the Chelsea box, left to right, but can’t make enough space for a shot, despite at one point sitting down Tosin. He lays off to Walker-Peters, whose shot from a tight angle on the right is blocked. Much better from West Ham, though the horse has long bolted.
70 min: Chelsea swap out three members of their defence. Cucurella, Chalobah and Gusto make way for Hato, Fofana and James.
68 min: Soucek’s right-wing cross is half-cleared to Potts, who sends a shot towards the top-right corner from the edge of the box. Sanchez tips over spectacularly, but the flag goes up for offside anyway.
67 min: Bowen advances down the right again and cuts back for Soucek, whose first-time shot disappears into Sanchez’s midriff. The last couple of minutes have been a little better for West Ham, though the bar is set so ridiculously low it’s almost subterranean.
66 min: West Ham assistant coach Bruno is booked for telling it as he sees it.
65 min: Bowen jigs down the right and digs out a cross that Wilson heads over. It wasn’t the easiest chance, to be fair.
64 min: Graham Potter stands stock-still on the touchline, staring into the distance/abyss. Deep in an executive box, co-owner David Sullivan is caught on camera deep in thoughts of his own. Just over one-and-a-half matches into the new season, and Graham Potter’s coat hangs on a shoogly peg.
62 min: Delap makes way for Andrey Santos. “Does Palmer get back into the team?” half-jokes Dean Moull.
61 min: Fernandez slices a shot over the bar from the edge of the West Ham box. This could get really ugly for the home side.
60 min: The booing is really loud now. Even more fans make for the exits. One irate punter make a beeline for the pitch, but his preposterous strivings are futile. Another supporter is pictured in the stand, hands on head, smiling wryly. What else can you do? West Ham have fallen apart.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-5 Chelsea (Chalobah 58)
Neto swings the corner in from the right. Hermansen flaps again. As the keeper sprawls, Pedro heads down for Chalobah, who sweeps home from six yards. Easy as that!
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57 min: Delap nearly releases Estevao with a cute reverse pass down the inside-right channel. Estevao enters the box but just as he prepares to shoot, Diouf arrives and pokes behind for a corner. From which …
56 min: Graham Potter bites his nails nervously as more fans make towards the out-door, steam pouring out of their lugs.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-4 Chelsea (Caicedo 54)
Fernandez curls the corner in from the left. Hermansen comes out to punch clear confidently … but he doesn’t punch clear confidently, half-catching it only to flap it downwards, into the road of Caicedo, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Caicedo wafts out a leg and instantly returns the ball off the underside of the bar and in. What a fiasco.
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53 min: Neto feeds Cucurella down the left. Chelsea are having so much joy down this flank. Cucurella is disappointed to only win a corner, having tried to find Delap in the six-yard box with a low cross. But no matter, because …
52 min: West Ham have hardly come out of the second-half traps flying. The changes making no instant effect. Chelsea still looking comfortable, verging on dominant.
50 min: It should be 4-1 to Chelsea. Fernandez sends Neto into space down the left. Neto reaches the edge of the box and cuts back for Fernandez, who had kept going. He leans back and slices his shot over the bar. Hermansen was out of the picture, so all he had to do was hit the target. Big miss.
49 min: At present, the xG stat for this match is 0.18 goals for West Ham to 1.65 for Chelsea. The actual scoreline flattering the hosts if anything.
47 min: Freddie Potts is making his Premier League debut. The 21-year-old midfielder is the son of Steve Potts, who played 506 matches for the Hammers between 1985 and 2001.
West Ham get the second half underway. They’ve made two changes: Todibo and Fullkrug off, Wilson and Potts on. They’ll go to a back four. “Palmer’s withdrawal has turned out to be Cold comfort for Graham Potter.” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the pulled pork and chips, with lashings of mayo and BBQ sauce pie, mash, liquor and jellied eel.
Half-time entertainment. It’s not been a particularly productive day for Cole Palmer. Barry Glendenning explains.
HALF TIME: West Ham United 1-3 Chelsea
The whistle goes for the break, and West Ham trudge off glumly to boos. Chelsea head down the tunnel in a much happier frame of mind.
45 min +6: A simple long ball down the middle nearly splits the West Ham defence. Gusto gets in ahead of Aguerd, momentarily, but can’t get the ball under control, and it’s knocked out for a corner. Nothing comes of it, but that was close to a fourth for Chelsea.
45 min +5: Ward-Prowse catches Caicedo on the foot with a late lunge. The ground’s quiet enough to clearly hear Caicedo’s scream of pain. Happily he’s fine to continue. Ward-Prowse escapes censure. Referee Michael Oliver in a laissez-faire mood.
45 min +4: Now it’s Cucurella’s turn to knock the unfortunate Fullkrug to the floor. Again, no foul. Fullkrug allows a pained look to betray his emotions. He’s been on the receiving end during this half all right.
45 min +2: Pedro slips Estevao into space down the right. Estvao goes barrelling along the touchline, but this time Todibo stays in the race and gently ushers him over the touchline. For a second there, West Ham looked exposed once more.
45 min: Graham Potter looks on pensively. A big job coming up at half-time … which is still six additional minutes away.
44 min: Bowen drives at Cucurella down the right and thinks he’s made enough space to shoot. But he hasn’t. His attempted curler towards the bottom left is immediately blocked by his opponent.
43 min: The London Stadium is pretty quiet now. Only the Chelsea fans to be heard. A lot of discontented supporters looking glumly on. West Ham haven’t done a thing since falling two goals behind.
41 min: Estevao hasn’t been perfect, of course. His loose flick set Paqueta off for West Ham’s early goal, and now he makes the same mistake again. But this time Paqueta can’t release Bowen on goal, and leaps around in impotent frustration when the attempted counter-attack breaks down.
39 min: Paqueta races to meet a loose ball on the edge of the Chelsea D, but the bounce isn’t his friend, and he can’t take it down for a shot. So he improvises, spinning around and meeting the high ball with an overhead kick. Not enough pace to trouble Sanchez, but full marks for invention. “Did Cold Palmer warm up too much and turn into gas?” wonders Tomasz Rykała, filing an early contender for Zinger of the Season.
37 min: Bowen slips Wan-Bissaka into space down the right. Fernandez, high on life after his goal, comes across to shoulder-barge his opponent off the ball, which sails out for a goal kick. The home fans don’t like it. Wan-Bissaka’s not particularly thrilled. But it’s another hard-but-fair challenge. The frustration of the home fans is palpable. And audible.
35 min: Some West Ham punters are already heading for the exits. Graham Potter is already the bookies’ favourite to become the next Premier League manager to lose his job … and this isn’t helping matters. The small margins, though, because his team were a couple of inches away from taking a 2-1 lead. But now look.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-3 Chelsea (Fernandez 33)
Cole who? Palmer’s replacement Estevao suddenly turns on the jets, latching onto Delap’s backflick down the right and dribbling into the box at an absurd pace, and with some skill. He draws a couple of defenders before squaring low for Fernandez, who can’t miss from six yards. What a sensational run by Estevao!
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31 min: West Ham try to regain some sort of foothold in the match with some possession in the middle of the park. They advance as far as Chelsea’s final third, before being forced to turn tail. The visitors, after a shaky start, look comfortable right now.
29 min: Fullkrug is again livid, skittled in an aerial duel by Tosin, another blow taken to the chin. No foul, and so the striker springs up and hammers the ground with his fist while doing so. Not pleased.
27 min: Pedro is in the mood tonight. A goal and an assist already, and now he takes control of a high ball with his chest, before screeching a dipping volley over the bar from 25 yards. A good way over the bar, in truth, but full marks for ambition. What a signing he’s proved already.
25 min: Well this is quite the see-saw start to the game! Paqueta isn’t happy at all, claiming to have been fouled in the build-up by Chalobah. VAR, like the on-field referee, decides it’s hard but fair. Which is probably correct, though you’ve seen fouls given for less, too. Nobody knows anything.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-2 Chelsea (Neto 23)
Neto crosses from the left. Too long. Paqueta, on the other flank, should clear, but dithers, allowing Chalobah to step across him and nudge the ball to Pedro, whose cross is slammed home by the in-rushing Neto. He could hardly miss.
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21 min: … nothing. Ward-Prowse sends it long, but Fullkrug is penalised for competing too eagerly. Pedro had a good chunk of Kilman’s shirt there. So much for Howard Webb’s latest from-thin-air edict.
20 min: That was a decent response from West Ham to conceding the equaliser, and it continues as Bowen hassles Tosin under a long ball down the left. Tosin is forced into the concession of a corner. From which …
NO GOAL! West Ham United 1-1 Chelsea
19 min: Nope, it doesn’t stand. VAR spots Todibo going a nanosecond too early, his boot offside as he nips ahead of Cucurella to meet Paqueta’s pass.
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GOAL! West Ham United 2-1 Chelsea (Fullkrug 17)
A free kick for West Ham out on the left. Ward-Prowse sends a long diagonal towards Soucek, who wins a header but can’t find a team-mate. However the attack doesn’t sputter out. Paqueta slips Todibo into space down the right. Todibo cuts back. The ball’s not cleared, and drops to Fullkrug, racing in from the left. Fullkrug steadies himself and whistles a shot through a crowded box. What a game we have here!
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GOAL! West Ham United 1-1 Chelsea (Pedro 15)
The corner comes in from the right. Cucurella flicks on at the near stick. Pedro powers an unmissable header home from six yards. Easy as that!
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14 min: Neto teases a deep cross in from the left. It’s dropping towards Estevao, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Estevao prepares to volley home, but Diouf eyebrows behind just in time. It’s only delaying the inevitable, though, because from the corner …
13 min: Chalobah lifts a pass down the inside-right channel for Pedro, who do-si-dos with Kilman, the pair falling over just inside the box. VAR has a quick check for a penalty, but there’s nothing in it.
12 min: On Sky, colour man Alan Smith is arguing that Sanchez should have done better in dealing with Paqueta’s shot, so far out was it taken. A bit harsh, it was a proper pearler. Chelsea yet to react.
10 min: Pedro and Fullkrug leap to compete for a high ball. The former crumps the latter in the jaw with his elbow. An accident, a natural movement while jumping, all that … but you’ve seen players punished for that nonetheless. This time, though, nothing. Thankfully Fullkrug is fine to continue, but he’s not particularly happy about the challenge, and tells the referee exactly how he sees it.
8 min: That is one heck of a goal. The stadium erupts. Enzo Maresca’s temper does likewise, his defence having backed off fatally there.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-0 Chelsea (Paqueta 6)
What a strike this is! Estevao loses possession cheaply near the centre circle, and Paqueta strides off down the inside-left channel. He’s not challenged … and not challenged … so he decides to unleash a screeching, dipping, diagonal purler across Sanchez from 25 yards and into the top right! Wow!
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5 min: West Ham launch their first attack of the evening, Ward-Prowse winning the ball 30 yards from goal and slipping it to Wan-Bissaka on the right. Wan-Bissaka has the opportunity to release Bowen down the wing, but Bowen goes too early. Chance to bother Chelsea gone. But no matter, because …
4 min: Sky managed to catch a word with Enzo Maresca, who informed them that Cole Palmer “felt something” in the warm-up, and has been withdrawn as a precautionary measure. Maresca wouldn’t be drawn on details, but there’ll be no risking the player this evening.
2 min: A rare old atmosphere at the London Stadium. A proper Friday night, couple-or-three-pints-deep, start-of-a-bank-holiday-weekend atmosphere. Pretty bubbles in the air!
Chelsea get the ball rolling. OK, the shirt is black. I need my eyes testing. Augurs well for the MBM, doesn’t it?
Here come the teams! Hold on, is that aforementioned Chelsea shirt very dark blue, or black? It’s the internet-breaking Great Dress Debate of 2015 all over again. West Ham are in claret, this much we know. We’ll be off in a minute.
A big blow for Chelsea / boost for West Ham before kick-off. Cole Palmer has tweaked something in the warm-up, and is out. Estêvão, Chelsea’s new 18-year-old wing sensation, takes his creative brief.
Cole Palmer leaving the warm-up early 🤔 pic.twitter.com/nJRGKdjaiE
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 22, 2025
Chelsea will sport their new third kit this evening. Take a quick glance, and you could be forgiven for thinking they’re cosplaying as Scotland. Closer inspection of the commemorative golden disc will however reveal two words that categorically clear up that particular confusion in double-quick time. Chelsea also become the latest club to go retro with their crest, reviving the mid-80s lion sprawled across the letters CFC, as though elegantly wasted on a chaise longue.
(For the sake of balance, West Ham are also giving their latest shirt its competitive debut tonight. It’s more claret than blue. An oblique nod to the McAvennie-Cottee glory years?)
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca speaks to Sky. “We can attack better [than we did against Crystal Palace] … we defended quite well … in any game you can do something better … overall it was a good performance … Joao Pedro gives us many, many options … Tosin gives us experience … he is going to help us with the long ball.”
It’s only matchday two. So we’re not so far down the road as to make these season previews redundant. Hope! Fear! Excitement! Apathy! It’s all within.
Potter continues: “We need to be better in the boxes … understand when we can press … open up too soon and it can cause you problems … make it a London derby … get on the front foot … be aggressive … positive … not too much, too soon … get the balance right … we need the crowd … we’d like to get some players … we’ve got some time left.”
West Ham boss Graham Potter, facing his old club tonight, talks to Sky Sports. “We have to be ready … when you have a defeat and you are disappointed with the result, you have to analyse what you did well and what you can improve … as an away performance we were OK … you plan until you get smacked in the nose and we got smacked in the nose … the demand is that you win … any defeat is tough to take … it’s also part of the job and you have to deal with it the best you can … we’ve been honest … we have to show we can be better.”
A late kick-off this evening, so you’ve got plenty of time to grab a snack before the game. Here’s what’s being served up outside the London Stadium tonight. Pulled pork, a dish synonymous with the east end of … Memphis.
London-infused flavours are however still available. Pie, mash, liquor and jellied eel all round!
West Ham United make one change in the wake of the 3-0 debacle at the Stadium of Light. Tomáš Souček returns in midfield to take the place of Guido Rodríguez, who drops to the bench.
Chelsea make three changes after their goalless draw with Palace at Stamford Bridge. Tosin Adarabioyo, Malo Gusto and Liam Delap are in; Jamie Gittens, Josh Acheampong and captain Reece James are benched.
The teams
West Ham United: Hermansen, Todibo, Kilman, Aguerd, Wan-Bissaka, Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Diouf, Lucas Paqueta, Bowen, Fullkrug.
Subs: Areola, Walker-Peters, Wilson, Mavropanos, Rodriguez, Scarles, Potts, Irving, Marshall.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Pedro Neto, Palmer, Joao Pedro, Delap.
Subs: Jorgensen, Bynoe-Gittens, Essugo, Santos, Hato, James, Wesley Fofana, Acheampong, Estevao.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
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Preamble
Here we are, then, one game into the new season, with two managers already under pressure. West Ham are coming off a three-goal spanking at newly promoted Sunderland, which, coupled with a run of just two wins in 11 at the end of last season, has plonked Graham Potter on the Premier League hot-seat. He’s the bookies’ favourite to become the first boss in the division to be given the heave-ho, after a mere 20 games in the job. He’s lost half of them. Oh Graham.
Enzo Marseca’s not in immediate danger of the sack, one wouldn’t have thought. He’s just won the Club World Cup and Conference League, for goodness sake. But he is working for trigger-happy Chelsea, and his team were thoroughly unconvincing at home against Crystal Palace last weekend. So expect noises off to be turned on should the cold start to their title challenge continue this evening. It’s the nature of the beast.
But there are straws to grab. West Ham might have finished last season poorly, but they nevertheless snagged big wins against Arsenal and Manchester United, and were the better team against champions-elect Liverpool. Chelsea meanwhile, to belabour the point, have just won the Club World Cup and Conference League. Oh, and they started sluggishly at home last season as well, before rebounding with a 6-2 away win in their second match. Eh, and they won this fixture 3-0 last year, and are currently on a three-match winning run against the Hammers to the cumulative score of 10-1. So they’re favourites to prevail here tonight, all told. Still, football is football, so let’s see if that’s right. Kick-off is at 8pm UK time. It’s on!
