West Ham United on Sunday secured a dominating 3-1 victory over archrivals Chelsea at the London Stadium, despite being reduced to 10 players courtesy of a red card send-off for Nayef Aguerd in the second half. The match was an overall thrilling encounter where defender Aguerd scored the opening goal for the Hammers in the early minutes. Chelsea came back with an equalizer in the 28th minute, but further goals from Antonio and Lucas Paquetá sealed a comfortable victory for West Ham.
The opening goal of the match came in the 7th minute when James Ward-Prowse fired a right-wing corner kick into the Chelsea box where Aguerd connected just in time to push the ball into the nets past Robert Sanchez. At 28 minutes, Carney Chukwuemeka finally found the opening as he scored the equalizer for his team, thus bringing the scores to par. This was the 19-year-old’s first goal for the club since his transfer to the side.
At 43 minutes, Chelsea had a promising opportunity to take the lead when Raheem Sterling won a penalty for his team. Enzo Fernandez stepped in to take the shot but Alphonse Areola denied his effort with a pitch-perfect save. Further attempts by both teams were swiftly defended as the first half eventually ended with the scores level at 1-1.
The pattern of Blues dominance threatened to continue following the break, but it was the hosts who managed to turn the tables in their favor. Just eight minutes into the second half, Michail Antonio scored the second goal for West Ham following a sublime pass from Prowse once again. His powerful strike gives West Ham a much-needed 2-1 lead with 53 minutes on the clock.
A little drama ensued in the second half as we then witnessed the debut of Moises Caicedo and Chelsea’s hopes appeared to be further boosted when the West Ham defender was slapped a second yellow card along with a red and sent off the field at 67 minutes. However, all hell broke lose when Caicedo inadvertently brought down Emerson in the penalty box, prompting the referee to award West Ham a penalty spot during stoppage time. Lucas Paquetá took the shot and converted the penalty, taking West Ham to a solid 3-1 lead and the eventual victory.
West Ham United locked horns with the Blue Devils, playing in front of their home crowd for the first time since June 2023, where they beat Fiorentina 2-1 to win the Europa Conference League, which was the team’s first major title victory since 1980. The Europa Conference victory came under the leadership of Declan Rice, who has now moved to Arsenal, following a whopping £100 million transfer deal finalized in July.
Rice has been replaced by James Ward-Prowse, who moved into the side from Southampton following a £30 million deal during the same time. The Central Midfielder impressed the home crowd as he provided two assists in his West Ham debut to facilitate the first two goals of the night.
In the end, it was an eventful afternoon at the London Stadium on Sunday as Michail Antonio scored a stunner in the second half to give West Ham a hard-fought win over London rivals Chelsea!
