Chelsea 2-1 West Ham: Blues come from behind to claim three points as Pedro Neto strikes before Cole Palmer forces Aaron Wan-Bissaka own goal

Graham Potter probably feels he didn’t have a lot of luck during his short time as manager at Chelsea. Some things in football take a while to change, it seems.

Potter is now a manager in West Ham colours and his seven months at Stamford Bridge are perhaps a fading memory but this experience may well have brought some of the trauma flooding back.

Here his new team were largely a match for his old but came away with nothing thanks to some questionable refereeing and, a few minutes later, an own goal. Chelsea have moved back into the top four of the Premier League on the back of this victory but will have to play better than they did here if they are to stay there.

West Ham were a goal up and good for it as we passed the hour mark here in West London. Jarrod Bowen – back from injury and the best player on the field – had latched on to a weak Levi Colwill back pass to score just before half-time.

That goal had come against the run of play. By the time Chelsea found a way back into the game, however, their opponents were the dominant force. Chelsea, after controlling possession and territory in the opening 45 minutes, had lost their way to such an extent that the first fifteen minutes of the second period had yielded just a single touch in the opposition penalty area.

But as Bowen diligently chased a ball into the Chelsea half in the 63rd minute, a chain of events began that essentially changed the game.

Bowen seemed to be obstructed by Colwill. Everyone seemed to see the foul apart from referee Stuart Attwell and his two assistants. Chelsea were thus allowed to work the ball up field and when substitute Pedro Neto crossed deep, the ball was flicked on to Marc Cucurella at the back post who hooked it back in to a dangerous area. Enzo Fernandez was first to shoot but when his effort was blocked, Neto appeared on the scene to drive the ball in at the near post.

A VAR check showed Cucurella to be in an offside position as he played his part and the ball seemed to have possibly arrived there off the head of team mate Marc Guiu. But the replays could not determine beyond doubt that it had and therefore the goal, after a lengthy period of deliberation, was allowed to stand.

Chelsea had been fortunate twice therefore. Sometimes you need a bit of that, though, and then sometimes you need a bit more. And so, after West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus had dived to head against the post at the other end, Chelsea came again to score what transpired to be the winner.

Cole Palmer has not been at his brilliant best recently and on the whole he wasn’t here. For the first time in his short Chelsea career, the England player has seemed a little devoid of sparkle. It had to happen eventually.

Here, he was never short of running and in the 74th minute he drove hard round the left edge of the West Ham defence and delivered a cross that looped up off Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s outstretched leg and in to the goal. West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was wrong footed and could only watch.

From that point, with Chelsea driven by renewed purpose and confidence, it was a long way back for West Ham. Kudus was denied by a fabulous Tosin Aadarabioyo tackle in added time and with almost the last kick Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen dropped to field a low drive from Konstantinos Mavropanos. But the truth is that the game had been settled by that rather frantic period of play in the middle of the second half.

Earlier on, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca had done what he had said he might after the recent defeat at Manchester City. He dropped his goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and handed Jorgensen, a 22-year-old Swede his third Premier League start.

How Chelsea have managed to spend so much money in recent years and failed to recruit a top class goalkeeper is a mystery. Here, Jorgensen was given his chance and when he was beaten towards rhe end of the first half he could do nothing about it.

Chelsea had been the more progressive side in the opening period. West Ham had been resilient and structured but not expansive.

Noni Mudueke was close to scoring in the fifteenth minute, curling a shot across goal and wide after he had been released down the right by Nicolas Jackson. Shortly after that Jackson laid the ball back to Palmer 20 yards from goal and he placed a shot over.

Left-back Cucurella leaped well only to head wide when he may have done better in the 25th minute before Mudueke played Fernandez in with a cute pass only for the Argentina international to roll his shot across the goalkeeper and wide.

In amongst all this, West Ham had managed the odd moment on the counter and maybe with hindsight these had served as warnings of some Chelsea defensive vulnerability.

Jorgensen had fumbled an early cross from Andy Irving, a 24-year-old Scot making his first league start. Bowen had also found space to shoot against the goalkeeper’s legs after a corner in the 19th minute. Then, in the 38th minute, Kudus had somehow been left free to run to a long pass from Aaron Cresswell and shoot in to the goalkeeper’s midriff.

So, yes, the warnings had been there and three minutes before the interval Chelsea fell apart a little bit.

A clearance from Areola was headed on by Vladimir Coufal and when Kudus hurried Colwill in to a poor back pass, Bowen intercepted to run clear and finish with his left instep.

The fifteen minutes after half-time were West Ham’s best. Emerson shot wide while Bowen had an effort blocked. They were their big moments. After that the game slipped away from them and even though the signs of Potter progress are clear, after five games in charge he has just one win. That perhaps indicates the size of the task.