MONEY makes the world go round, but it is taking its sweet time with Chelsea.
American owner Todd Boehly has thrown nearly £ 1 billion at his ambitious West London project since arriving in the summer of 2022, with very little to show for it so far.
There have been several bumps in the road already, backed up with the promise that, given time, results will be seen on the pitch.
At the London Stadium, we saw glimpses of that. Nicolas Jackson looks the real deal up top with his pace and power. Raheem Sterling was back to his scintillating best. Carney Chukwuemeka continued his impressive recent form with a stunning equalizer.
Mauricio Pochettino will slowly but surely turn this star-studded group of mega-money purchases into a proper team.
And yet, Chelsea begin this new campaign with one point from a possible six. Too early to draw serious conclusions, but the need for a victory is already looking urgent.
Chukwuemeka later left the field injured. Enzo Fernandez missed a penalty. £115m record signing Moises Caicedo gave away a penalty on his debut. Much for Poch to ponder.
For West Ham, a vital victory. While the draw away to Bournemouth in their Prem opener was flat and timid, this performance had some bite to it, as well as some quality.
On his Hammers debut, James Ward-Prowse stole the show, doing exactly what he was brought in to do with his wand of a right foot.
First, a superb corner found the free head of Nayef Aguerd in the seventh minute, and then after the break picked out Michail Antonio over the top to retake the lead.
Lucas Paqueta – currently under investigation over potential betting breaches – was at the heart of everything, and had the final word with the injury-time spot-kick to seal the deal.
