Chelsea are back into the top four in the Premier League table with an enormous win against West Ham United on Monday evening.
Jarrod Bowen had given the visiting Hammers, managed by former Blues head coach Graham Potter, the lead at half-time with the England international firing into the bottom corner after a mistake from Levi Colwill. The Chelsea centre-back tried to find Filip Jorgensen with a back-pass but fluffed his lines and instead played Bowen through on goal.
There was a severe lack of movement from the Chelsea attacking players in what was an abysmal first-half showing from the hosts at Stamford Bridge. So much so, that Gary Neville – the co-commentator on Sky Sports’ coverage of the game – said: “They [the Chelsea attackers] are being micromanaged within an inch of their lives” on 37 minutes. Supporters became restless and increasingly frustrated with what they were seeing from the west Londoners but a nine-minute period where Enzo Maresca made four changes completely altered the Blues’ fortunes.
On 52 minutes, Nicolas Jackson and Jadon Sancho were taken off for Marc Guiu and Pedro Neto with Maresca clearly not happy with what he witnessed from the duo up until that point. Just nine minutes later, the Italian made another couple of changes with Malo Gusto and Christopher Nkunku replacing Reece James and Noni Madueke.
The quadruple change, particularly with the introduction of Neto, helped change the game and swing the pendulum in Chelsea’s favour. Neto equalised for the Blues on 64 minutes as the hosts got that piece of fortune they so desperately needed. After the Portuguese attacker found Marc Cucurella at the back post, the Spaniard then laid it off to Enzo Fernandez, whose shot was blocked before it finally fell to Neto, who powered the ball low and hard past Alphonse Areola.
Around 10 minutes later and Chelsea took the lead with Cole Palmer, who was having a quiet evening up until this point, striking the ball across goal and it taking a massive deflection off Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s right leg and looping over Areola. Another very fortunate goal but those pieces of luck have not been going Chelsea’s way recently – so they are more than welcome for Maresca and his players.
It was an inspired nine-minute period from Maresca, whose substitutions may have won Chelsea the match in the end. The head coach has been criticised recently – particularly in this poor recent run of form – for taking too long to try and impact the game with his substitutions. However, Maresca was very proactive on Monday night and it paid off for the Blues.
Neto fires emphatic message with celebration
Neto was the game-changer on Monday night. He was the man Maresca called upon to go out there and produce the goods, the magic we know he is capable of.
After firing the ball into the back of the net, Neto then did the gesture with his hand to suggest that people had been talking unfairly about him in recent weeks. Asked by Sky Sports about his celebration, the Portuguese international clarified: “We are a big club. When you win, you are the best and when you lose, you are the worst.
“So it is about working and being consistent and showing what we can do. To win trophies, you have to know how to suffer. We are here to suffer and do our best and to finish in the top places.”
Whether he was talking about himself personally or the team in general, it is uncertain but both have rightly been criticised in recent weeks. Neto himself scored his first Premier League goal since the draw with Arsenal way back in October – with the 24-year-old featuring nine times since then (before he scored against West Ham). It was only his second league goal since signing for the club – so there is no doubt that he needs to do exactly what he did against the Hammers on a more consistent basis.
However, equally, there is no doubting the impact he had from the bench at Stamford Bridge on Monday. Despite playing only 45 minutes (including stoppage time), Neto touched the ball more times in the West Ham box (seven) than Jackson, Sancho and Madueke combined.
Colwill concern
Colwill has not been at his best in recent games. He looked shaky against Manchester City 10 days ago but his performance against West Ham was his worst of the season – which overall, has been a fairly strong one for the England international.
“I’m not concerned,” Maresca said when asked about errors leading to goals. “It’s the way we play. Sometimes defensive mistakes happen, ‘keeper mistake, No.9 misses the goal – that is football. It happens. The important thing is to continue.”
There are no immediate calls to drop Colwill from supporters but there are understandable concerns about his drop off in recent weeks. There is no question about the Chelsea defender’s ability and potential to become an elite centre-back in the future but he looks very short on confidence at the moment.
Chelsea do not play for another four days, with the Blues’ next match an FA Cup fourth round tie away at Brighton. Because of it being a cup competition, there is a chance we see Maresca heavily rotate his side – meaning Colwill may be handed a rest before the Blues return to the Amex Stadium a few days later to take on the Seagulls in the Premier League.
