No Cole Palmer, no problem as Chelsea run wild at West Ham United in EPL game

LONDON – Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was pleased his side stuck to their plan, as his new signings and young talents hit their stride without injured talisman Cole Palmer to run wild in a 5-1 Premier League demolition of West Ham United.

Palmer was ruled out for the clash at the London Stadium on Aug 22 after suffering some muscle soreness in the warm-up, but his teammates swiftly allayed any fears of that being a setback.

After conceding early, Chelsea hit back with goals from five different players.

“The start was not the best in the way we planned with Palmer’s injury and conceding a goal after five minutes, but the reaction from the players is something that is very good to me,” Maresca said.

“Especially you could see how confident they were about the game plan. They stuck to the game plan on and off the ball and continued in the same way. I am very happy, very impressed.”

Former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp was also full of praise for the Blues.

He said on Sky Sports television: “You could name any Chelsea player as Man of the Match, they were absolutely fabulous, especially after losing Palmer and they were a bit rattled going 1-0 down.

“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 they were 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.

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 line-up, provided one assist – a perfect pass across goal for Fernandez to tap in – and was named Man of the Match.

While not among the scorers, he wrote his name in Chelsea history as their youngest provider of a Premier League assist.

“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 Blues left-back Marc Cucurella.

“I think we have an amazing squad and hopefully we can do good things this season.” REUTERS