Chelsea secured a comfortable 3-0 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. The Blues put in a superb performance in a game where they were devastating in transition, to finish off a disappointing Hammers side.
Two goals from Nicolas Jackson and one from the irresistible Cole Palmer were enough to secure all three points for Enzo Maresca’s side.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the scoreline, Julen Lopetegui’s men ever so slightly dominated possession. According to Sofascore, the home side had 52% of the ball, compared to Chelsea’s 48%. They also had more shots, 15 to the Blues’ 12, and more on target with seven compared to five for Chelsea.
However, it was the East London outfit that created the highest number of big chances, an impressive five, with the home side not even creating one. Chelsea also had a far superior expected goals tally than the Hammers, with 2.34xG compared to just 0.87xG. Their quality of chances was far better.
It was a brilliant day at the office for the Blues, who had some standout performers, including the very impressive Jackson.
Jackson’s stats vs. West Ham
It was a superb performance from Jackson, who grabbed two goals and an assist for Palmer in East London. He has now taken his tally of London derby goals to ten in just 12 games, an excellent record. He played with bags of confidence, and his pair of goals were certainly well-taken.
The Senegal international was assisted by Jadon Sancho for his first of the game. After latching onto the winger’s pass, he made a driving run into the West Ham box, slotting home through the legs of Alphonse Areola.
His second was provided by Moises Caicedo, a lovely first-time pass which Jackson ran onto and finished with the outside of his right foot to double his tally, and Chelsea’s lead, less than 20 minutes into the game.
The Chelsea number 15 was given a 9/10 for his efforts by Goal journalist Stephen Darwin. Darwin described his performance as “outstanding”, given his goals and assist against the Hammers. He also pointed out only “Erling Haaland has more goals since May”, very impressive indeed from Jackson.
The stats certainly reflect a good performance, with the Senegalese attacker completing 82% of his passes, creating two chances and one of his side’s five big chances to go along with his goal involvements.
Whilst the striker was a standout performer for the Blues, other players impressed, including Ecuadorian international Caicedo.
Caicedo’s stats vs. West Ham
The former Brighton and Hove Albion man was superb against the Hammers. It was arguably one of his best performances in a Chelsea shirt since he joined the club last summer in a Premier League record £115m move.
Not only did he get an assist for Jackson, but his stats outside of that were superb. He had 75 touches and had an impressive 87% pass accuracy. However, where the 22-year-old really stood out was his work out of possession. Caicedo won 13 out of 16 duels and eight out of ten tackles. He was everywhere.
Caicedo stats vs. West Ham | |
|---|---|
Stat | Number |
Touches | 75 |
Pass accuracy | 87% |
Passes completed | 47/54 |
Ground duels won | 10/13 |
Aerial duels won | 3/3 |
Tackles won | 8/10 |
Stats from Sofascore | |
He was given an impressive 9/10 rating from Dawrin, who called him ‘one of the best players on the pitch today’. He was full of praise, explaining this is the “all-action” midfielder Chelsea fans have waited to see.
It was very much an impressive effort from the 22-year-old who will be hoping to build on such a performance ahead of a busy few weeks for the Blues.
They have the EFL Cup and the Europa Conference League beginning soon and will be hoping to go far in both. Caicedo will no doubt be a crucial player for Maresca’s side.
