{"id":365849,"date":"2025-08-22T23:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T23:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/365849\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T23:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T23:36:11","slug":"estevao-inspires-chelsea-to-thrash-west-ham-and-put-pressure-on-graham-potter-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/365849\/","title":{"rendered":"Est\u00eav\u00e3o inspires Chelsea to thrash West Ham and put pressure on Graham Potter | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was Graham Potter finding out what a broken club really looks like. It is the London Stadium emptying out long before full time, patience worn thin by the latest in a long line of humiliations. It is one young fan mounting a solo pitch invasion after being driven to despair by his side\u2019s inability to defend set pieces. It is a new \u00a315m goalkeeper who cannot catch crosses and, as much as Potter will plead for calm, it is that the only positive for West Ham was Chelsea<\/a> pretty much declaring after going 5-1 up with over half an hour to play.<\/p>\n

Chelsea had run through at will, cutting West Ham\u2019s execrable back five to shreds, Jo\u00e3o Pedro and Est\u00eav\u00e3o Willian playing a different sport from every individual in claret and blue. Whatever the gulf in class, though, there can be no excuse for a performance so lacking in heart and a team so incapable of doing the basics.<\/p>\n

There is no hiding place for Potter, who has taken fewer points from his first 10 home games in the Premier League<\/a> than any manager in West Ham\u2019s history. He is already under pressure, already facing suggestions that he is in trouble after eight months in the job, although there is the awkward question of whether he is more symptom than cause. After all, the sense that Potter is the wrong fit at a club who tend to feed off \u00ademotion should not overlook the fact that this collapse owes much to years of West Ham\u2019s owners making one bad decision after another on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

Put it all together and Potter could be forgiven if he was pining for the days when he was struggling to make sense of life at Chelsea. He was bruised by his experience in west London, although the longer time has gone on the more it has become apparent that Chelsea were simply going through a period of transition. Their owners have built a seriously talented squad since \u00adfiring \u00adPotter.<\/p>\n

Cole Palmer pulling out of this game with a groin injury just before \u00adkick off? It hardly mattered when manager Enzo Maresca was simply able to bring in Est\u00eav\u00e3o and watch the 18-year-old Brazilian \u00adprodigy rip West Ham apart with his speed and skill on just his first competitive start for Chelsea.<\/p>\n

Est\u00eav\u00e3o inspired Chelsea on his first start. Photograph: Chris Lee\/Chelsea FC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It bordered on the absurd that Chelsea had fallen behind to a stunning early goal from Lucas Paquet\u00e1. The theory that fatigue will be one of the biggest challenges for Maresca\u2019s side after their Club World Cup exertions had been given strength by Palmer exiting the warm-up early. It meant a rejig in an attack led by Liam Delap \u2013 Est\u00eav\u00e3o came in on the right, Jo\u00e3o Pedro played as the No 10 and Pedro Neto moved to the left \u2013 and the late alterations initially had West Ham thinking that their luck was about to turn after losing to Sunderland on the opening weekend.<\/p>\n

Yet the optimism faded soon after Est\u00eav\u00e3o lost possession in the sixth minute and watched Paquet\u00e1 send a swerving shot past Robert S\u00e1nchez from 25 yards. Chelsea needed less than 10 minutes to respond in the manner of world champions, Neto\u2019s corner headed on by Marc Cucurella for Jo\u00e3o Pedro to shake off Aaron Wan-Bissaka and equalise. They were soon ahead, Paquet\u00e1 squandering possession before Jo\u00e3o Pedro crossed for Neto to convert, and the game had run away from Potter\u2019s side by the time Est\u00eav\u00e3o sliced through West Ham\u2019s left side before crossing for Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez to make it 3-1 in the 34th minute.<\/p>\n

It became painful for Potter, who has won two home games since replacing Julen Lopetegui in January. West Ham, who have conceded eight in their first two games, are relegation candidates. Midfield reinforcements cannot come quickly enough. Mois\u00e9s Caicedo and Fern\u00e1ndez ran over James Ward-Prowse and Tomas Soucek. Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Nayef Aguerd all looked like expensive mistakes in central defence.<\/p>\n

West Ham crumbled. They have no leadership. Est\u00eav\u00e3o\u2019s assist for Fern\u00e1ndez was followed by the camera cutting to David Sullivan, West Ham\u2019s largest shareholder. The mood in the stands was a curious mix of anger and apathy. Many have lost patience with Sullivan after an \u00aduninspired transfer window, blaming him for the club\u2019s shoddy recruitment. There were more boos when the 33-year-old Callum \u00adWilson replaced the 32-year-old Niclas \u00adF\u00fcllkrug up front.<\/p>\n

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