Thomas Tuchel reveals dressing room message after 2-1 win over West Ham in the Premier League

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said his players showed character and grit to come from a goal down and win against West Ham in the Premier League.

Substitute Ben Chilwell cancelled out a Michail Antonio opener for the Hammers- and Kai Haverts relegated to the bench for the first time this season popped up to score the winner after Maxwel Cornet’s effort bounced off the woodwork minutes earlier for David Moyes’ side.

The win takes Chelsea to fifth in the Premier League and gives them a great response to their defeat to Southampton in midweek.

Asked if he was impressed with the reaction of his team and over-all performance that earned them all the points, Thomas Tuchel said his side needed to go down before finding their feet to take all three points.

He said after the game: “I see this all the time when I analyse West Ham, and this is what they do. They make you under-perform, they make the game slow, and they make it difficult to accelerate the game to find the open spaces.

“If you find the open spaces, it’s only for a short moment – or in spaces that you can’t be dangerous.

“This is what they do. They defend with bodies, discipline, and physicality. It’s hard to create chances, half-chances, and deliveries. And it’s almost impossible to come back when they are ahead. So the task became more and more difficult for us.

”We did not play with maybe the biggest belief and self-confidence given the last results, and that I can understand. Nobody was angry at our players.

“I wasn’t angry. I told them to keep believing and find a better understanding of where we can maybe create an overload.

“But as I said, it’s hard to play a really attractive game against them because they do what they do at the highest level. So to turn this thing around, maybe we needed to be a goal down and have nothing to lose anymore.

“We wanted to restart the season today, and we did. Hopefully, the way we did it and the impact from the bench gives us the belief back and the confidence back that we need to play at our highest level.”