Despite taking a first-half lead against rivals West Ham during Saturday afternoon’s London derby in the Premier League, Chelsea are struggling to put the game to bed.
Record signing Enzo Fernandez played a superb floated ball to on-loan teammate Joao Felix, who slotted the ball beyond Lukas Fabianski during the game’s first 45 minutes, but the Blues found themselves pegged back just minutes later thanks to a close-range effort from former full-back Emerson.
At the time of writing, there is a little under 20 minutes to play and the away crowd are beginning to get agitated.
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Watching on as their team struggle to break down David Moyes’ resilient Hammers, Chelsea, led by Graham Potter, have so far failed to lay a glove on their rivals during the game’s second half, and should the match end in a draw, the Blues’ hopes of entering the race for the top four will be dealt yet another blow.
Consequently, Potter, who is undoubtedly looking for a win, has been forced into making several second-half substitutions and one of the players called off was Marc Cucurella.
According to journalist Simon Johnson, as soon as the defender’s number 32 was held up on the official’s subs board, large sections of the away supporters were heard cheering in celebration that the former Brighton defender was being replaced by Ben Chilwell.
Mudryk, Cucurella and Madueke off. #CFC fans cheer when Cucurella’s name is read out by the PA and Chilwell comes on.
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) February 11, 2023
This report does not bode well for the defender’s future at Stamford Bridge, despite only joining the club last summer.
