Nuno Espirito Santo watched his West Ham United side completely collapse against Chelsea on Saturday.
West Ham went 2-0 up at Stamford Bridge after goals from Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville.
However, Joao Pedro, Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez all scored in the second half to inspire Chelsea to a 3-2 comeback win. Before the game, Nuno spoke very highly of Liam Rosenior’s squad.
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Nuno Espirito Santo clearly rates it 👌
He has now spoken about the Blues’ first goal against his team, which was scored by Pedro.
Nuno Espirito Santo says West Ham couldn’t cope after Chelsea’s first goal
According to Nuno, after Pedro found the back of the net, West Ham just could not “survive” at Stamford Bridge.
In a post-match interview, which has been shared by West Ham’s official club website, the Portuguese manager said: “We allowed their centre-back to step in and cross and after that we tried to survive and couldn’t.
“It was the moment that we felt when Chelsea scored the first goal [that we went to a back five], that the wide areas were not in [our] control, our wingers were not able to control their full-backs to allow Malick [Diouf] and Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] to go stronger.”
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At one stage, it was Chelsea who could not cope as the Hammers raced into a 2-0 lead. Understandably, fans were not happy and let the team know by booing them.
Rosenior has admitted that he also would have booed the players had he been a supporter in the crowd, showing just how bad they were in the first half.
Thankfully for Rosenior, though, they were able to turn things around and beat Nuno’s men.
The stats from Chelsea’s 3-2 win over West Ham
Despite West Ham’s impressive first half, overall, Chelsea dominated Saturday’s London derby.
Rosenior’s side saw more of the ball and registered a higher xG, finishing the game with a total of 2.70, as per Sofascore. West Ham’s was 1.12.
| Team | Ball possession | xG | Shots | Big chances |
| Chelsea | 71% | 2.70 | 14 | 4 |
| West Ham | 29% | 1.12 | 11 | 2 |
Still, Nuno will feel that West Ham should have taken something from the match, which is more than understandable. They were 2-0 up after all.
However, 45 minutes is a long time in football and Chelsea had a lot of quality on the pitch and the bench. They always had the potential to score, especially being the home team, though they may have been dead and buried had Rosenior not made those changes at half-time.
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