Kai Havertz earns Chelsea controversial win as West Ham rue disallowed goal

The slowest-burning of games developed into chaos and, ultimately, a Chelsea victory that for long periods had seemed unlikely. A largely leaden showing seemed to have been punished by Michail Antonio after half-time but two substitutes, Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz, finished smartly and ensured a textbook away showing from West Ham went unrewarded.

Even after Havertz’s late winner there was a heartstopping moment for Thomas Tuchel when Maxwel Cornet, who had earlier struck a post, capitalised upon an Édouard Mendy fumble to score; the visitors celebrated wildly but the goal was ruled out via a VAR review for a clip on the goalkeeper by Jarrod Bowen. Chelsea needed the points badly but, after such an extravagant transfer window, will hope for a more consistent level of performance.

Perhaps the scratchy form of both sides dictated that proceedings took an eternity to warm up. The most notable incident of the opening exchanges came when Wesley Fofana, with his first action in a Chelsea shirt, got the better of Antonio to appreciative cheers. Lucas Paquetá, making his first start for West Ham, is the subject of similarly high expectations but received a snappy reminder from Ruben Loftus-Cheek that time on the ball is a luxury that must be earned in this fixture.

Those introductions apart, there was little to stir the blood. Tuchel had demanded Chelsea toughen up after the defeat to Southampton and maybe, given West Ham were hardly going to be a soft touch here, a slog was inevitable. Christian Pulisic was pitched in from the beginning, deployed to add running alongside Raheem Sterling, and it spoke volumes that the only moment approximating to excitement in the first half-hour was a harmless shot from the American that