West Ham 1-5 Chelsea: Pressure on Potter intensifies after humiliating derby defeat

Chelsea crushed London rivals West Ham 5-1 for their first victory of the Premier League season on Friday, piling further pressure on their former head coach Graham Potter.

Things started well for the Hammers as Lucas Paqueta beat Robert Sanchez with a thunderous 25-yard strike in the sixth minute, after Chelsea's talisman Cole Palmer limped out of the visitors' warm-up and was replaced in their starting XI by Estevao.

But the Blues responded emphatically, levelling when Joao Pedro evaded Aaron Wan-Bissaka to nod home in the 15th minute, after Marc Cucurella flicked Pedro Neto's corner on.

Joao Pedro turned provider with a pinpoint cross as Neto put Chelsea ahead in the 23rd minute, shortly after Niclas Fullkrug saw an effort disallowed for offside at the other end.

And Chelsea never looked back after taking the lead, with Estevao combining brilliantly with Liam Delap to tee up Enzo Fernandez for a 34th-minute tap-in.

West Ham were booed off by their supporters at half-time and within 15 minutes of reemerging, some dismal set-piece defending had them 5-1 down.

Mads Hermansen flapped at a Fernandez corner in the 54th minute, allowing Moises Caicedo to prod home, and just three minutes later, the former Leicester City goalkeeper saw another set-piece delivery taken out of his hands by Wan-Bissaka before Trevoh Chalobah converted.

Playing only for pride, West Ham started to create chances with the best of those seeing Caicedo deny Kyle Walker-Peters on the line, but they could not cut the deficit and the London Stadium was half-empty by the time the final whistle put them out of their misery.

While West Ham sit bottom of the early standings with Potter facing heightened scrutiny, Chelsea are up to four points, having reacted to their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.

Data Debrief: Potter needs some magic

If any team needed a fast start to the campaign, it was West Ham, who ended 2025-26 with just two wins from their final 11 matches (four draws, five defeats).

After their latest chastening defeat, the Hammers have earned just nine points from 10 home Premier League games under Potter.

That is the fewest ever earned by a West Ham boss in their first 10 home matches in the competition, with Alan Curbishley and Avram Grant both previously collecting 10.

Co-chair Karren Brady gave Potter a public vote of confidence earlier this week, but the former Chelsea boss may now be concerned about his position.

Kenny Dalglish (at Newcastle United in 1998-99) and Paul Sturrock (Southampton in 2004-05) are the only Premier League managers to leave their roles just two games into a season.

Chelsea, meanwhile, showed they could cope without Palmer. His absence saw Joao Pedro move into a central role and Estevao make his first Premier League start, and the winger marked it with a fine assist for Fernandez's goal.

At 18 years and 120 days old, Estevao became the third-youngest South American to start a Premier League match, after Rafael (18 years, 101 days) and Emiliano Insua (18 years, 111 days), and the youngest player to register an assist for Chelsea in the competition.