Joao Felix once again reminded Chelsea fans of his undeniable quality with a superb performance, particularly in the first half, against West Ham on Saturday. The Portugal international has already shown glimpses of his talent with much of that on display in his Blues debut against Fulham, which was marred by a second half red card which saw him miss the next three Premier League games.
After not playing a competitive fixture in just under a month, despite training, Felix made his return to the Chelsea team from the start for their London derby against West Ham. Immediately it was clear to see his impact had been missed with jinking runs and clever passes causing the Hammers a number of problems in the early stages.
Felix saw a goal disallowed for offside before he gave the visitors the lead sweeping home a perfectly-weighted delivery from Enzo Fernandez.
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Emerson Palmieri levelled the game against his old club before a second half engulfed in late drama took place with Tomas Soucek at the centre of it. The Czech Republic international thought he'd won the game for the hosts but Declan Rice was deemed as offside in the build up to his goal and just minutes later he blocked a Conor Gallagher effort with his arm, but no penalty was given.
Todd Boehly has faced significant criticism for the amount of money spent on transfers in January, although Enzo Fernandez has certainly put up a good fight to justify his British transfer record price tag. After combining with Felix, the World Cup winner controlled the midfield battle against West Ham's Declan Rice, but the England international instead offered praise to Felix after the game.
“As a player, you know a top player,” Rice told Stadium Astro. “The way he worked from side to side to get on the ball and find space. He’s an unbelievable player. I noticed that straight away, within the first 10-15 minutes, you have to be really on your game with players like him.”
Arsenal legend Ian Wright was also full of compliments for Felix after his display in east London. "The front four look very exciting, Joao Felix, we saw what he done against Fulham and we know he’s a top quality player," Wright said on Premier League productions.
"He’s getting into positions, getting past people, passing past people, he’s doing everything. He’s very unfortunate not to have two goals."
His lack of match action was evident in the second half though, as his influence waned but it was obvious to see he was comfortably one of the best players on the pitch.
Graham Potter also spoke on the performance of his star attacker, but remained composed, indicating that there is far more still to come from Felix in a subtle warning to the rest of the Premier League.
"It’s his first game for a while, but he managed the game well and influenced the game," he told BT Sport. "You can see his quality, he’ll get better and better the more he plays with us."
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