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Chelsea's Ben Chilwell is not happy with the way the game went against West Ham
Photo: Isabel Infantes/EPA
Chelsea failed to find their way back to form in time for the round of 16 first leg in the Champions League at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday (9 p.m., stream: DAZN).
The London club had to settle for a 1-1 (1-1) draw at West Ham United in the city derby.
Winter signing João Félix gave the Blues the lead (16th minute), Emerson, who only switched from Chelsea to West Ham in the summer, scored the equalizer (28th).
Chelsea FC spent around 330 million euros on new players in January – a record sum.
Coach Graham Potter put five of the newcomers in his starting XI: Behind national player Kai Havertz, João Félix, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Noni Madueke formed the new creative department, while record-breaking Enzo Fernández (€121m transfer fee) assisted the attackers from central midfield.
In central defense, Benoit Badiashile got the confidence.
In the first half it looked as if the new staff would do Chelsea a lot.
João Félix in particular shone: The Portuguese's first goal didn't count due to an offside position after João Félix lobbed keeper Lukasz Fabianski and then lobbed a post rebound into the goal (9').
Then Fernández overturned the entire West Ham defense with a ball into the penalty area, João Félix put his foot into the pass and scored to make it 1-0 (16th).
Havertz also scores from offside
After a remarkable ball deep from Mudryk, Havertz also put the ball in the goal, but again the Chelsea attacker started just offside (23').
The Blues' flow of play gradually ebbed away, West Ham fought their way into the game and equalized through Emerson, who pushed a cross over the line from the far post (28').
There was far less to see from Chelsea in the second half.
In fact, the guests were lucky that a West Ham goal didn't count either: this time it was Tomáš Souček, who was ruled offside (82').
Chelsea are ninth in the Premier League after three draws, West Ham are 15th.
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