West Ham player ratings: 'Frustrating' 5/10 but 'soldier' 9 as Chelsea beat Graham Potter

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An organised West Ham couldn’t keep Chelsea out forever under the lights at Stamford Bridge.

Graham Potter suffered defeat on his return to Stamford Bridge as West Ham manager, his side losing 2-1 to the Blues.

It looked as if the Hammers could steal a result from west London when Jarrod Bowen made the most of a Levi Colwill mistake. The England international was clinical as he slotted home to put his side ahead against the run of play.

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Chelsea came back after half time with substitute Pedro Neto following his own cross in to net, despite a lengthy VAR check for offside against Marc Cucurella. Cole Palmer then saw a cross deflect off Aaron Wan-Bissaka and past Alphonse Areola to make the game 2-1 and claim all three points. Here’s how the West Ham players rated.

West Ham player ratings

GK - Alphonse Areola, 8

Made some great saves tonight. The leap to palm away the Cole Palmer free kick in the first half particularly impressive.

LB - Emerson, 6

Coped well with the tricky Noni Madueke but not on his toes when Neto stole in for his goal.

CB - Aaron Cresswell, 7

Some tasty deliveries from corners and made an important block from a dangerous Jadon Sancho ball in the first half.

CB - Max Kilman, 7

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Initially looked scared when run at Noni Madueke but grew into the game. The Hammers were organised at the back with him in the middle and made Chelsea work hard for their openings.

CB - Vladimir Coufal, 8

That was a pretty impressive performance at centre-back. Up for the challenge with Cucurella and Cole Palmer running at him, but taken off with 20 minutes left to play.

RB - Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 6

Unlucky that the ball came off him in that way and ended up in the back of his own goal. He had Cucurella fretting when he did get forwards, so it would have been nice to see a bit more drive to do that from the full-back.

CM - Tomas Soucek, 9

A solider tonight. Got his body in the way of so much. Chelsea would have had more if not for him.

CM - Andy Irving, 7

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Looked to be the key man in the first half, finding plenty of space and causing problems for Chelsea. Did fade after the break but put the ball on a plate for Mohammed Kudus, who couldn’t nod in.

LW - Carlos Soler, 6

There was one moment in the second half when he beat Reece James one on one to win a free kick and draw a yellow card that had the Hammers fans pumped. Unfortunately, he doesn’t bring enough of that when on the wing with the Hammers lacking a dynamism on the left.

West Ham take the lead through Jarrod Bowen

ST - Jarrod Bowen, 8

One of those nights where he was never going to see much of the ball. When a half chance rolled his way thanks to a Colwill error, he finished it with aplomb. Bowen didn’t have much of a corner to aim at but there was a feeling in Stamford Bridge he’d find it - and he did.

RW - Mohammed Kudus, 5

Frustrating tonight. The flicks and tricks are great, but let’s keep them out of the West Ham defensive 1/3 as that can cause problems. How his header in the second half hit the post instead of the back of the net is a mystery.

SUB - Ollie Scarles, 6

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Looked out of his depth at first but did settle. Needed to work hard in that position and did.

SUB - Konstantinos Mavropanos, 7

Came on to help stop growing Chelsea threat and did settle proceedings slightly.

SUB - Danny Ings, 5

Closest he came to bringing West Ham level was an audacious attempt at lobbing Filip Jorgensen. He didn’t come anywhere near the goal with that.

SUB - Lewis Orford, 6

Only afforded a cameo but found a couple of nice passes in midfield.

SUB - Luis Guilherme, 7

Linked with a move away from the club today but saw game time at Stamford Bridge. Immediately found himself involved and caused some small headaches on the right wing. Clearly a player worth keeping.

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