This was Graham Potter finding out what a broken club really looks like. It is the London Stadium emptying out long before full time, patience worn thin by the latest in a long line of humiliations. It is one young fan mounting a solo pitch invasion after being driven to despair by his side’s inability to defend set pieces. It is a new £15m goalkeeper who cannot catch crosses and, as much as Potter will plead for calm, it is that the only positive for West Ham was Chelsea pretty much declaring after going 5-1 up with over half an hour to play.
Chelsea had run through at will, cutting West Ham’s execrable back five to shreds, João Pedro and Estêvão Willian playing a different sport from every individual in claret and blue. Whatever the gulf in class, though, there can be no excuse for a performance so lacking in heart and a team so incapable of doing the basics.
