Cole Palmer overtakes Erling Haaland and Enzo Maresca equals Pep Guardiola in Chelsea riot
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Cole Palmer and Enzo Maresca are just two of Chelsea’s big winners following their comfortable victory against West Ham.
The Blues were a class above the Hammers in a 3-0 win thanks to two goals from Nicolas Jackson and one from Palmer.
Victory has seen Chelsea rise to second in the Premier League table on ten points with three wins and a draw from five matches.
Whilst the whole squad and staff played their part, Palmer and Maresca in particular will look back fondly on their latest result.
Palmer has now made the most goal contributions in the Premier League with 39 since he made his league debut for Chelsea last September.
His tally of 24 goals and 15 assists has come in 38 outings and sees him overtake Manchester City striker Erling Haaland’s 38 contributions.
As well as this, Maresca has won all of his first three away games in the league.
Pep Guardiola, to whom Maresca was previously an assistant, was the last new manager to do so at the beginning of his City reign in 2016.
The Spaniard claimed wins over Stoke City, arch-rivals Manchester United and Swansea City, with Maresca beating Wolves, Bournemouth and now West Ham.
Chelsea’s win on Saturday is their first at the London Stadium since 2021 and it took them just four minutes to open the scoring.
Jackson ran onto the end of Jadon Sancho’s ball down the left and raced into the penalty area before firing through Alphonse Areola’s legs.
The Senegal international added a second in the 18th minute with a one-on-one finish following Moises Caicedo’s through ball.
It was game, set and match within 68 seconds of the second-half as Jackson fed the ball to Palmer, who struck past Areola.
West Ham were controversially denied a penalty in the first-half when Crysencio Summerville was held by Wesley Fofana in the box.
Summerville went down but referee Samuel Barrott dismissed the hosts’ protests, with VAR then reviewing the incident.
A penalty was not awarded, with the Premier League match centre saying: “The referee's call of no penalty for the challenge by Fofana on Summerville is checked and confirmed by VAR – deeming that this was not sustained holding.”
Mohammed Kudus did find the back of the net but his goal was ruled out for offside on what was a sorry day for West Ham.
Julen Lopetegui’s side have lost all three of their opening home games in the league this season as they allowed Chelsea to ease to all three points.
