Chelsea enjoy their sunshine stroll at lifeless West Ham

DESPITE the trials and tribulations that make up virtually every Chelsea season, the Blues are week on week looking like they can do their talking on the pitch after a 3-0 win against lifeless West Ham, reports the Voice of Sport from London Stadium.

A Nicolas Jackson brace and a goal by Cole Palmer was enough to see them go second in the Premier League, however temporarily.

Jackson’s goals in the 4th and 18th minutes killed off West Ham’s bid to win a home game this season, this was their third successive loss after defeats to Aston Villa and Manchester City.

Palmer’s early second half goal ended the match as a contest.

Having spent billions and having endured endless boardroom turmoil, the men from Stamford Bridge, on this display at least, look like they may just be building something meaningful as they took full advantage of another poor showing by the East Enders.

The hosts were off the pace throughout the first half as this London derby resembled a training exercise for Chelsea as they sprayed the ball around with confidence especially during the first period.

Jackson’s first goal was Chelsea’s earliest in a Premier League London derby since Daniel Sturridge against QPR in April 2012, having been assisted by the lively Jadon Sancho who was making his first top flight start since 28 May 2023 when he scored for Manchester United against Fulham.

Home fans will disagree with their sporting director Tim Steidten, who while speaking to TNT Sports on this summer’s recruitment pre-match said: “We have great players. The summer was busy, we’ve ended with great players and I’m very happy.”

On this showing, new boss Julen Lopetegui’s has lots of work to do. Their fans will not tolerate home defeats and abject performances much longer.

New Hammer Cryscencio Summerville was making his full league debut and was his team’s best player. The ex Leeds winger was full of zip and energy and might well, on a different day, have earned his team a penalty after being pulled back by a fortunate Wesley Fofana in the first half.

West Ham lacked the aggression that previous manager David Moyes gave his team. There was no passion from the men in claret and blue and the feisty tackles, that are normally associated with a capital fixture, came too late to salvage anything. At no stage did West Ham look like they were going to overly trouble their west London neighbours.

Lopetegui is now under scrutiny based of the season so far and the money spent.

Meanwhile Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who used to be a West Ham employee, said: “It’s nice to be back. I spent almost two years here [West Ham as assistant] with some good players and good human beings.

“For sure the results are always important. The main thing is to see how the team progress and adapt, I think we’re going in the right direction.”

On Sancho starting he added: “It was not simple [choice] because we have more players. But we decided on Jadon and hope it is the right decision.”

At the minute, these two London rivals are going in different directions.