Declan Rice has revealed how West Ham posed Chelsea questions in their 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon, explaining how Emerson Palmieri's goal came off as planned. Having gone ahead through Joao Felix and dominating the early stages Graham Potter's men were pegged back.
Former Blues fullback Emerson popped up at the far post to bundle in after Jared Bowen's neat near-post flick on, dampening the built up positivity. It wasn't just a freak goal out of nowhere though and Rice pinpointed just how the Hammers were able to exploit Chelsea.
With injuries and poor form still limiting midfield options it was an attack minded setup from the visitors who deployed four out-and-out forwards alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Enzo Fernandez. It looked to have paid off as Chelsea consistently created chances in the opening half an hour, putting the ball in the net three times.
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Unfortuntately for Potter two were offside and the cushion was never established. Emerson's goal knocked them back a peg and it was partly down to the forward-thinking shape. "It took us a little while to get going and adapt to their system," Rice explained after the match.
"But once we found out their weakness, getting the ball down the sides of them and realised their wingers weren’t really tracking back. We managed to get the goal from that and exploit that. The last 20 minutes was there for us and we could have nicked it."
Rice himself nearly found a winner but Kepa Arrizabalaga kept out his late header whilst Thomas Soucek's rebound was disallowed for offside. The Czech midfielder then handled the ball in the box as Chelsea cried for a last-minute penalty but VAR failed to overturn the decision despite uproar from fans, pundits and players alike.
There was little wrong with Emerson's goal from a West Ham view though. Chelsea will have been extremely frustrated with how the equaliser came about. Marc Cucurella failed to put any pressure on the initial cross, nor did he manage to block the ball in. Bowen was free to flick the ball on ahead of Benoit Badiashile and Thiago Silva and Reece James weren't alert to stop Emerson's run.
As for how the room to cross in the first place came about, Mykhailo Mudryk and Cucurella struggled for any chemistry throughout the game. In forward areas the pair were disjointed and the former Brighton man was even booed off.
The Spaniard may not be a popular figure right now but one man is. New signing Enzo Fernandez once more showed his quality and went up against one of the best defensive midfielders in the league in Rice. The Englishman was full of praise for his opposite number.
"I’ve played against a lot of midfielders and No.10s and the first 10 or 15 minutes today as a player you know a top player. 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. You have to be really on your game with players like him."
Fernandez chipped in, literally, with an assist for Felix and continued to operate from deep but was unable to inspire a first win. His performance on the same pitch as Rice comes with the Blues looking at bringing in the Hammers' captain next summer.
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