Estevão Makes Chelsea History as Blues Crush West Ham 5-1

Chelsea delivered a dominant performance in east London, thrashing West Ham 5-1 despite the absence of Cole Palmer, as teenage sensation Estevão marked his full debut with a record-breaking assist.

Chelsea compounded West Ham’s early-season woes and intensified pressure on their manager Graham Potter with a resounding 5-1 Premier League victory at the London Stadium on Saturday.

The visitors were forced into a late change when Cole Palmer withdrew after sustaining an injury in the warm-up. Their afternoon initially worsened when Lucas Paquetá struck a thunderous effort from distance to give West Ham a sixth-minute lead.

However, Chelsea responded in ruthless fashion, producing a flurry of goals to overwhelm the hosts, who had already suffered a 3-0 defeat at newly promoted Sunderland on the opening weekend.

Brazilian teenager Estevão, making his first Premier League start, was instrumental in the turnaround. The 18-year-old provided the assist for Enzo Fernández’s goal and earned man-of-the-match honours, becoming the youngest Chelsea player ever to record a Premier League assist.

Chelsea had five different goalscorers on the day: João Pedro, Pedro Neto, Fernández, Moisés Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah. Three of the goals came from corners, exposing West Ham’s woeful marking.

Despite Estevão’s impressive display, manager Enzo Maresca urged caution in his post-match assessment:

“He has to adapt. The goal we conceded came from when he tried a flick in the middle of the pitch, and that led to another transition. He’s very young, a fantastic player, and we are very happy with him — but he must adapt.”

Caicedo added Chelsea’s fourth in the 54th minute after West Ham goalkeeper Mads Hermansen failed to deal with an in-swinging corner, before Chalobah hooked home the fifth four minutes later, prompting large sections of home fans to head for the exits.

Potter, who previously endured a difficult spell as Chelsea head coach, looked increasingly dejected on the touchline. His future at West Ham appears under mounting scrutiny following a poor end to last season — in which the Hammers finished 14th — and back-to-back defeats to open the new campaign.

Boos rang out around the London Stadium at both half-time and full-time, underlining the growing discontent among supporters.