Fernandez scores in second minute of stoppage time as Blues beat West Ham 3-2 in thriller

Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time winner as Chelsea remarkably recovered from 2-0 down at half-time to beat West Ham United 3-2.

Liam Rosenior made six changes to the Chelsea team that defeated Crystal Palace last weekend, and it looked like his tinkering would backfire when Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville scored in the first half.

However, a triple half-time alteration from Rosenior changed the course of the game, with headers from substitutes Joao Pedro and Marc Cucurella getting Chelsea back on level terms.

Jean-Clair Todibo missed a glaring chance to put West Ham 3-2 up, and Nuno Espirito Santo’s men were then left heartbroken when Fernandez stroked home in the second minute of stoppage time.

West Ham’s misery was compounded as Todibo saw red for grabbing Joao Pedro around the throat as the Hammers stay 18th, five points adrift of safety, while Chelsea surge into the top four.

How the match unfolded

The away fans were in ecstasy after seven minutes at Stamford Bridge as Bowen’s inswinging cross drifted all the way into the far corner.

It got better for West Ham in the 36th minute. Aaron Wan-Bissaka cut the ball back after being found on the underlap by Bowen, and Summerville fizzed in a first-time finish.

But after Rosenior rang the changes, two of Chelsea’s substitutes combined to halve the arrears, with Joao Pedro nodding Wesley Fofana‘s cross home in the 57th minute.

Alphonse Areola touched Moises Caicedo‘s drive over as Chelsea upped the pressure, which told when Liam Delap headed against the crossbar under pressure from Maximilian Kilman, with Cucurella stooping to nod in on the rebound with 20 minutes of normal time remaining.

Todibo prodded against the post from a glorious position, and Chelsea made that reprieve count when Joao Pedro supplied the assist for Fernandez to side-foot beyond Areola.

Watch: Rosenior reacts to Fernandez winner

Tempers boiled over as players from both sides became involved in an altercation, with Todibo dismissed for violent conduct to cap a miserable second half for the visitors.

Rosenior rights first-half wrongs

Rosenior is just the fourth Englishman to win his first three games as a Premier League manager or head coach, and he has his substitutes to thank after a superb turnaround.

Having made sweeping changes with an eye on the second leg of Chelsea’s EFL Cup semi-final tie against Arsenal next week, Rosenior endured the worst 45 minutes of his tenure so far.

Chelsea’s only shot of note in the first half was a tame free-kick from Cole Palmer, which sailed into Areola’s gloves.

Cucurella was arguably the player Chelsea missed most, with both West Ham goals coming down the flank he usually patrols. Alejandro Garnacho failed to track back for the Hammers’ second, allowing Bowen and Wan-Bissaka to isolate Jorrel Hato.

The Spaniard was introduced alongside Joao Pedro and Fofana at the interval, though, and after weathering another bout of West Ham pressure, Chelsea came on strong.

Fofana channelled his inner Kevin De Bruyne to tee up their first goal, and after Cucurella’s instinctive finish, Fernandez ignored the chaos around him to decide the game with a cool finish, one day short of the third anniversary of his Chelsea arrival.

Chelsea had never previously won a Premier League game from two or more goals down at half-time, and confidence will be coursing through them ahead of next week’s trips to Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Improved visitors dealt Hammer blow

Nuno will be crestfallen after seeing his team collapse in the second half, following a scintillating start that put them on the brink of a third straight league win.

The mood at West Ham was upbeat after victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland.

And West Ham flew out of the traps here, with Valentin Castellanos drawing two saves from Robert Sanchez either side of Bowen’s admittedly fortuitous opener, with Chelsea’s goalkeeper appearing to hesitate as Pablo swung a boot at the floated ball.

Wan-Bissaka’s pass inside to Bowen went down as an assist, and the defender had another when he raided forward to pick out Summerville, who has now scored in four straight games in all competitions.

Wan-Bissaka’s understanding with Bowen caused Chelsea no end of problems, though neither was able to stop Pedro Neto’s cross in the build-up to the Blues’ equaliser, which stood following a VAR check to ascertain whether Delap pushed Kilman.

Matters could still have been very different for West Ham, had Todibo not struck the woodwork, and the defender’s late red card told the story of a second half in which the visitors lost their composure.

They visit Burnley next week, and Nuno will be under no illusions of the importance of that relegation six-pointer.

Club reports

Chelsea report | West Ham report

What the managers said

Liam Rosenior: “I don’t put that just down to the changes I made. It’s very difficult. We’ve had so many games in a short space of time. I was fearful of a lack of energy and not energy or lack of application, but I felt our decision-making was really poor in the first half. When to keep the ball, when we pressed, we were just too far off it.

“West Ham were by far the better team. We had a reaction at half-time. The reaction of the team in the second half tells me that we’ve got something really, really special here if I can utilise the squad in the correct way.”

Nuno Espirito Santo: “In the first half we combined and we defended well. We were in control and every time we went forward, we combined and we scored two beautiful goals.

“That’s a frustration, not being able to sustain our performance through the game.”

Next PL fixturesKey facts

In Joao Pedro and Cucurella, two different substitutes have scored in the same Premier League game for Chelsea for the first time since September 2022 against West Ham United (Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz).

Rosenior became the fourth English manager or head coach to win his first Premier League games in charge, after Bobby Gould in August 1992, Sam Allardyce in August 2001 and Craig Shakespeare (first 5) in April 2017.

Since the start of 2023/24, only Mohamed Salah (43), Erling Haaland (36) and Ollie Watkins (32) have been involved in more Premier League goals away from home than Bowen (29 – 18 goals, 11 assists).

Chelsea won a Premier League match having been two goals behind at half-time for the first time ever in the competition, while West Ham lost an away match that they were two goals ahead at the break for the second time (lost 3-2 against Wigan in May 2011).