Chelsea stormed back to win a remarkable match 3-2 against West Ham at Stamford Bridge after Liam Rosenior turned to his bench to tip the game on its head and rescue his side.
This was the kind of fightback that could do wonders as the Blues head coach looks to build the confidence of his young squad and install a togetherness with supporters, but the situation had looked bleak at half-time after his decision to change seven players backfired.
The home side were a mess and trailed to goals from Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, with heavy rotation from the win in Naples leaving them disjointed and lacking cohesion.
Three half-time changes did the trick to save Chelsea, with Wesley Fofana crossing for Joao Pedro to pull one back before Marc Cucurella’s header levelled things.
It was arguably Chelsea’s player of the season Enzo Fernandez who won the match, with Pedro Neto again involved with the assist, but questions will yet be asked about rotation and the abilities of Rosenior’s second string.
Jean-Clair Todibo was dismissed as tempers boiled over in added time – a wild end to a thrilling game.
West Ham had the benefit of a settled line-up with just one change from the 3-1 win over Sunderland and they went ahead here via a stroke of fortune.
Bowen spun away from Alejandro Garnacho on the right and crossed. Robert Sanchez was deceived by Pablo’s lunge, leaving the ball to drop inside the far post to Chelsea’s dismay.
The hosts had not played badly, but some of the fluency which characterised their 3-2 win over Napoli was absent. Jorrel Hato, in at left-back, struck up a lively pairing with Garnacho, but defensively down that flank they were wide open.
As has often been the case following heavy rotation, a lack of cohesion was being exploited by more settled opposition and West Ham deserved their second.
Bowen brought down a long ball with an exquisite first touch and played in Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who charged unimpeded into the box before pulling the ball back to where Summerville was waiting unmarked to crash the ball into the corner.
Chelsea stumbled over the line to half-time looking a nervous wreck and could have few complaints about being booed off.
Seeing a clear solution among the players watching from the bench, Rosenior sent on Cucurella, Fofana and two-goal Naples hero Pedro.
With Neto having replaced the injured Jamie Gittens, the Blues’ line-up now looked something closer to their strongest iteration.
They could have fallen three behind had Sanchez not saved from Mateus Fernandez and Bowen, but then their fightback began.
Pedro nodded in from Fofana’s cross in the 56th minute to make it 2-1 then Alphonse Areola produced an outstanding one-handed save to keep out Moises Caicedo’s drive.
The equaliser arrived when Max Kilman turned Malo Gusto’s header against the crossbar and Cucurella threw himself at the rebound.
Todibo ought to have won it for West Ham, but stabbed against the a post and wide from close range.
That honour instead would fall to Fernandez, bobbling the ball in from Pedro’s cut-back to spark delirious scenes, before Todibo lost his cool deep in added time to cap a miserable night for the Hammers.
