Chelsea’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali put aside their reported spat over ownership of the club to visit Enzo Maresca and his players following their 3-0 win over West Ham, as the head coach insisted both men were “all happy” with a comprehensive victory full of style and energy.
The pair congratulated the team together inside the dressing room at the London Stadium after two goals from Nicolas Jackson and one from Cole Palmer had eased the Blues to three points against a lacklustre West Ham side, as head coach Julen Lopetegui’s problems mounted.
For Maresca it was a third win in five Premier League games since taking charge with his side having scored 10 goals in their last three away matches.
CHELSEA, CHELSEA, CHELSSEEEAAAA!!!#CFC | #WHUCHE pic.twitter.com/CuTBRKa3JA
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 21, 2024
“Not only today, it’s always good when we win games for (the owners), especially because they were both here,” he said. “We can give them some good moments. They were in the changing room, they were all happy.”
West Ham were undone in the fourth minute by their own incoherent defending.
Jadon Sancho, making his full Chelsea debut, received a quick free-kick and fed the ball smartly into the left channel for Jackson, who strode unimpeded from the touchline into the penalty area before rolling it neatly beneath Alphonse Areola.
Palmer shot inches wide in an acre of space as the hosts tottered and the defence was no more effective in attempting to prevent Chelsea’s second goal after 18 minutes, Moises Caicedo’s parting the back line with a simple pass for Jackson to run through and knock it into the corner.
This is a Nicolas Jackson appreciation tweet.#CFC | #WHUCHE pic.twitter.com/vJ1FThBjhi
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 21, 2024
Jackson turned provider for Palmer at the start of the second half, cruising unchallenged over the halfway line and feeding the England forward who swept in at the near post.
Despite the ease with which a vibrant Chelsea overran their hosts, Maresca warned against being lulled into thinking the team’s problems have all been solved five weeks into the season.
“I think we’re on the right path,” he said. “We’re in the right direction, but it’s a long journey. We won today and we’re in a good moment, it looks like everything is fine. But not everything is fine. We could attack better, defend better.
“For me, the main target in this moment is to see how we progress as a team and I think we are improving many things, even if today we could manage the game much better.
“Sometimes we need to give more passes and keep the ball. We are in a rush and we want to attack immediately. But overall I think we deserved to win.”
Hammers boss Lopetegui has seen his team pick up just four points from his five games in charge and reflected on a game in which his side made it too easy for Chelsea.
“We are very frustrated today for sure because we had big expectations,” he said. “We worked a lot to prepare and it’s been a very soft way to lose.
“We suffered two early goals that we should have done better. We weren’t consistent. When you’re not consistent against this kind of team, you’re going to have few possibilities to win.
“We had chances, we had more of the ball, but that is not important.”
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