rewrite this title Chelsea 3-2 West Ham: Blues claim thrilling comeback win

Chelsea completed a superb comeback for the second time in the space of four days as they overturned a two-goal deficit to beat relegation-threatened West Ham 3-2 in a thrilling London derby.

Having seen his side come from 2-1 down to beat Napoli 3-2 and secure a place in the top eight of the Champions League table, Liam Rosenior made seven changes from the XI that began the game at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

That decision looked to have backfired as West Ham took a richly deserved 2-0 lead through Jared Bowen and Crysencio Summerville.

Yet Rosenior’s half-time substitutes paid huge dividends, with Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Joao Pedro, scorer of a decisive brace in Naples, all having a huge impact.

Pedro halved the deficit 12 minutes into the second half, before Cucurella levelled matters 13 minutes later.

West Ham looked to have at least done enough to secure a point, but Enzo Fernandez struck in the 92nd minute to at least temporarily send Chelsea into the Premier League top four.

There was chaos in the closing seconds as Jean-Clair Todibo was sent off for West Ham after he grabbed Pedro by the throat amid a huge melee. He will miss the next three matches, with the Hammers still five points adrift of safety.

West Ham dominate first half

Sanchez was left red-faced as he allowed a seemingly innocuous in-swinging delivery from Mark Noble to creep into the bottom-left corner and stun Stamford Bridge.

The Spaniard then made an unconvincing save to deny Taty Castellanos after he was played in by Bowen, with West Ham continuing to look dangerous amid poor defending from the hosts.

Chelsea suffered a setback midway through the first half, with Jamie Gittens forced off with an apparent foot injury and replaced by Pedro Neto.

And the Blues’ frustration was furthered as they fell further behind when Summerville finished off a superb West Ham move.

Bowen collected a long ball forward on the right flank and calmly played in Aaron Wan-Bissaka down the channel, with the defender’s pull-back met by a rasping first-time finish from Summerville that left Sanchez with no chance.

Chelsea changes pay off

Cucurella, Fofana and Pedro entered the fray in place of Benoit Badiashile, Alejandro Garnacho and Jorrel Hato.

Though West Ham began the second half brightly, with Sanchez forced into saves to deny Mathus Fernandes and Bowen, the substitutions had the desired impact for the Blues.

After Liam Delap went close, Pedro continued his excellent recent form, rising at the far post to turn home Fofana’s right-wing cross with a deft header.

Alphonse Areola produced a superb save to keep out a fierce long-range effort from Moises Caicedo, but there was nothing the Frenchman could do to prevent Cucurella from equalising with a diving header.

Neto swung in a deep cross that Malo Gusto headed back across goal and, after Delap hit the crossbar, Cucurella was on hand to complete the comeback.

From that point, West Ham were primarily on a mission to ensure a share of the spoils, but they saw a glorious opportunity to retake the lead go begging when Jean-Clair Todibo struck the post from point-blank range.

The Hammers were left to rue that miss as a sweeping Chelsea move settled an enthralling contest, Areola left with no chance as Fernandez turned home from Gusto’s pull-back to send a Stamford Bridge crowd that booed the hosts off at half-time into raptures.

There was yet more drama as Adama Traore flung Marc Cucurella to the ground by the corner flag, prompting a fracas that saw multiple potential red card incidents, though only Todibo was dismissed aftr a lengthy VAR check.

That ending typified the fight both teams showed in a memorable game. They will each need to continue show the same spirit, albeit without the ill-discipline, in their respective battles at different ends of the table.