The emphatic victory of Chelsea op West Ham United gets our game week 2 scout notes going – and there is only one place to start: Cole Palmer (£ 10.5 million).
Palmer Injury last
Cole Palmer was excluded from Chelsea’s meeting with West Ham on Friday after storing an injury to the warming.
The 23-year-old, who was previously mentioned in the starting XI, only pulled a few moments before the kick-off.
Shortly thereafter, Enzo Maresca told Sky Sports that Palmer “felt something”, but emphasized that it was precautionary and that they did not want to take any risks with him.
The Italian later revealed that Palmer played a groin problem and will now be assessed.
“Cole in the past four or five days was not 100%. Today he tried in global warming, but he felt something, so we prefer not to take risks and make it worse, and we will see in the following hours whether it is something important or not.
“It is a groin problem. It is all the palace game he was not 100% for, but he tried to make a big effort for the club, for the team, for the fans, because he is really enthusiastic about the team. Tonight he tried it again but it was not very good.” – Enzo Maresca on Cole Palmer
No Palmer, no problem
Stem (£ 6.5 million) quickly took Palmer’s place in the starting XI.
The Brazilian stood on the right, with Joao Pedro (£ 7.5 million) in the gap, Liam Delap (£ 6.5 million) in advance and Pedro Neto (£ 7.0 million) from the left.
Once arranged, Chelsea was completely not influenced by the absence of Palmer, because they yielded seven (!) Big opportunities, with five different players on the score sheet.
Boven: Chelsea’s XG Shot Map against West Ham United in Gameweek 2
Pedro fell in the pockets and was fantastic.
He scored once, assisted twice and was easily the best player in Chelsea. He got the most out of the space that West Ham offered, he ended the game with three shots and created two big opportunities.
“Joao, as we have often said, can give us different options. Liam, we know, is a central striker, he can play with Joao as two strikers, or a striker with Joao who moves around or widely.” – Enzo Maresca on Joao Pedro and Liam Delap both start
Maresca on Estevao
As for Estevao, he made his chance, founded Enzo Fernandez (£ 6.5 million) for a simple tap-in during the first half. He also came close to scoring when Reece James‘(£ 5.5 million) Pinpoint Pass has put it through.
That said, he gave the ball away for the opener of West Ham.
“We have admitted a goal because of him, he lost the ball in the structure, so he has to make a mistake to learn, but in general the performance was very good. His response to that error showed how good he is, and the reason why he is here with us.” – Enzo Maresca on Estevao
Elsewhere, scored and assisted and helped and came in a number of very decent positions deep in the West Ham Box, while Malo likes it (£ 5.0 million) and Marc Cucurella (£ 6.0 million) caused many problems with their out-to-in runs.
Tosin Adarabiyo (£ 4.5 million) in the meantime preferred Josh Acheampong (£ 4.0 million) at the back.
‘First of all we have to say Josh [Acheampong] did very well against Palace, but we already gave games to Josh last year, so we trust Josh 100%. Tosin gives us many things, in terms of experience, managing moments, and certainly, in this kind of game with a big striker in advance, Soucek is there, he will help us with the long ball. “ – Enzo Maresca about his changes in defense
West Ham collapses
As was the case in Sunderland last week, West Ham was much too easily defeated.
The hammers have now experienced back-to-back-downguards and have admitted eight goals in the process, with most of those target concessions of crosses.
Given how open they were on Friday, plus the lack of intensity in and out, it already feels like Graham Potter is under pressure.
Lucas -package (£ 5.9 million) managed to give the hosts an early lead El Hadji Malick Diouf‘s (£ 4.5 million) pass.
They also had one Niclas Fullkrug (£ 6.0 million) Not allowed for offside.
However, it is fair to say that Chelsea will not have any easier match all season, with Mads Hermansen (£ 4.5 million) and AARON WAN-BISSAKA (£ 4.5 million) Particularly bad.
It is also remarkable that Potter’s three-at-the-back formation only lasted until the break, with Line (£ 4.5 million) and Fullkrug replaced by Freddie Potts (£ 4.5 million) and Callum Wilson (£ 6.0 million).
After those changes, Paqueta was deployed on the left, Jarrod Bowen (£ 8.0 million), demonstrably the best player in West Ham, on the right, and Wilson through the middle.
It resulted in a flurry of opportunities in the second half, but at that time Chelsea was already out of sight.
It is also not easier for West Ham, with some difficult luminaires on the horizon:
In the meantime, Nayef Aguerd (£ 4.5 million) was the only player from both sides to earn defensive contribution (Defcon) points on Friday.
“It is of course bitter disappointing with the results, with the way the goals. I thought they were too cheap. I think when you do that, it gives yourself a real challenge in the Premier League, and especially when it is a team with the talent and quality that Chelsea has. It was a tough evening for us. – Graham Potter
#FPL #comments #Palmer #Injury #Newest #Pedro #Haul #West #Ham #Wide #Open