Izuchukwu Okosi
Ten-man West Ham United were 3-1 victors after a fiesty contest with London rivals, Chelsea on Match-day 2 in the Premier League at the London stadium.
Lucas Paqueta’s late penalty all but handed the hammers the victory, albeit Chelsea gave them a fight with Anglo-Nigerian midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka scoring Chelsea’s only goal.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelWest Ham were 2-1 ahead when defender Nayef Aguerd, who opened the scoring with a seventh-minute header, was sent off in the 67th minute for his second bookable offence.
But Chelsea could not force an equaliser and then conceded a late third through Lucas Paqueta’s penalty in the fifth minute of added time.
Chukwuemeka who is eligible to play for Nigeria scored his first goal for the Blues to make it 1-1 but Enzo Fernandez wasted a chance to put them ahead when his penalty was saved by Alphonse Areola.
Chukwuemeka hobbled off the pitch as he sustained a knee injury in the game.
Michail Antonio put West Ham back in front with a powerful angled strike in the 53rd minute, before the hosts were reduced to 10 men.
However, Mauricio Pochettino’s side could not use their man advantage to force a second leveller despite a second-half debut for Moises Caicedo, who joined from Brighton earlier this week in a deal that could become a British record.
The Ecuador midfielder signed for an initial £100m, although the deal could be worth up to £115m, and he had a chance to make it 2-2 but shot over from the edge of the penalty area.
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Caicedo then conceded a penalty with a foul on Emerson and Paqueta scored from the spot to seal West Ham’s victory.
Chelsea held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in their first game of the season.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
