LONDON :Chelsea’s new signings and young talents hit their stride in the absence of injured talisman Cole Palmer on Friday as the Club World Cup winners ran wild in a 5-1 Premier League demolition of West Ham United.
Palmer was ruled out after suffering some muscle soreness in the warmup but his teammates swiftly allayed any fears of that being a setback.
After conceding an early goal at the London Stadium, Chelsea hit back with goals from five different players inside an hour to take over at the top of the standings, even if only for one night, after two games.
“You could name any Chelsea player as man of the match, they were absolutely fabulous, especially after losing Palmer before the game and they were a bit rattled going 1-0 down,” said former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports television.
“But they stayed calm and composed and the quality they possessed, they look like a big team who are going to compete this season.
“Defensively they did not have any problems and there were a lot of impressive performances. They were excellent and aggressive, got after the ball, (Moises) Caicedo was an absolute monster in midfield and it was a really emphatic, big win.”
New signing Joao Pedro played a key role and provided the 15th-minute equaliser with his first league goal for Chelsea before Pedro Neto and captain Enzo Fernandez made it 3-1.
Moises Caicedo, on his 100th appearance for the club, and academy graduate Trevoh Chalobah added two more after the break from corners.
Eighteen-year-old Brazil winger Estevao, who replaced Palmer in the starting lineup, provided one assist – a perfect pass across goal for Fernandez to tap in – and was named man of the match.
While not appearing amongst the goalscorers, Estevao wrote his name in Chelsea history as their youngest provider of a Premier League assist.
He could also have scored in the 73rd but hesitated too long when clear on goal.
The Brazilian also gave away the ball that enabled compatriot Lucas Paqueta to put West Ham ahead in the sixth minute, but he more than redeemed himself later.
“He’s young but he showed that he’s very mature. He made good decisions and all the new players, all the new signings came here to help the team, to bring something good – good energy, good talent,” said left back Marc Cucurella.
“I think we have an amazing squad and hopefully we can do good things this season.”
