The slower pace of affairs ended in near chaos and West Ham were disgusted to cancel out what looked like a perfect equalizer from Maxwel Cornet. Kai Havertz had just put Chelsea in front, volleying a smart volley at the near post following a fine cross from substitute Ben Chilwell when Edward Mendy dived to put it away at the feet of Jarrod Bowen. The keeper could only tap into the path of Cornet, who finished emphatically. West Ham celebrated but their joy was curtailed when Andrew Mandley was called on his screen. VAR had correctly detected that Bowen then cut Mendy down, but the contact was short and, in any case, the ball had already been launched several meters away and Mendy’s chances of correcting his error were slim. The goal looked good, even when slowed down to such a speed that it distorts too many decisions, but Mandley opted to chalk it up and West Ham were rightly incensed. “It was a ridiculously bad decision,” said David Moyes, who went to see Mandley afterwards. “I do not want an explanation from them, as it would be difficult to give. I don’t think anyone can justify it.” Moyes saved most of his anger for Jared Gillett, the VAR official. “The sad thing is that this is the level of our elite refereeing at the moment,” he said. “I’ve lost faith in them after that. I’m more ashamed of the VAR guy than the referee because that tells me he’s someone who doesn’t understand football and probably shouldn’t be anywhere near him if that’s enough to send the referee to the screen.” Predictably, Tuchel disagreed. “My view is very clear, it’s a foul,” he said, before moving on to the perceived injustice Chelsea suffered against Spurs three weeks ago. He also said Mendy, who was sidelined after the incident and accused by Moyes of playing on, was in a lot of pain and would be a doubt for Tuesday’s Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb. Jarrod Bowen challenges Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy moments before Maxwel Cornet scores a goal which is later disallowed. There had been a football match before the upset, though not much, until Michael Antonio capitalized on another Mendy ricket to score. West Ham were starting to come out of their shell after comfortably restricting Chelsea for an hour. Mendy parried a Bowen volley but tapped into the resulting corner after the ball ricocheted off Lucas Paquetá’s shoulder. Declan Rice turned it back for Antonio and, given the poverty of their display, it was little surprise that Chelsea were caught. Start your evenings with the Guardian’s view of the world of football Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. They had been told to toughen up by Tuchel after the Southampton defeat, but that seemed to be at the expense of anything spontaneous or instinctive. Raheem Sterling tried his best to provide an element of surprise, but the main talking point before half-time was the apparent composure, if rarely under scrutiny, of £75million Wesley Fofana on his debut. Watching from the stands, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang must have wondered where the chances he likes to gobble up might come from. When Chelsea finally created one, the source was unexpected. Chilwell had just been introduced alongside Havertz when he won a header from Thiago Silva’s cross and reacted strongly to beat an unconvincing Lukasz Fabianski. Before then there was no reason for Fabianski to get his gloves dirty, but soon after Cornet’s header hit a post, he was again picking the ball out of his own net after a determined combination from Chelsea’s cavalry. “We wanted to restart the season and today we did,” said Tuchel, who felt his players allowed West Ham to slow things down too easily early on. By the end, the visitors were completely on a roll. “That’s up there with the worst VAR decisions since he came into the game. Shambles,” tweeted Declan Rice, but he still hasn’t calmed down an hour after the whistle. Chelsea didn’t care.
