West Ham 1 Chelsea 1: Blues denied last-minute penalty after Soucek appears to save Gallagher’s shot with hand

CHELSEA OLD BOY Emerson cancelled out new signing Joao Felix’s first goal for the Blues.

Then VAR stopped Tomas Soucek heaping more misery on Graham Potter – because former Chelsea trainee Declan Rice was offside from Emerson’s late free kick.

GettyJoao Felix is finally off the mark for Chelsea[/caption]

Former Chelsea star Emerson Palmieri earned West Ham a pointRichard Pelham / The Sun

When you bring in as much talent as Chelsea have in the last two windows, some of it is bound to deliver.

And Felix, sent off on his debut, returned from suspension to give the visitors an early lead from a cross by £107m man Enzo Fernandez.

But when you buy and sell so many players, one or two of those who get away are going to bite you on the bum every now and then.

And it was ex-Stamford Bridge left back Emerson who equalised on another frustrating day for Blues boss Graham Potter and his new owners.

Soucek thought he had stolen all three points for the Hammers when he forced the ball home after Kepa Arrizabalaga had saved Rice’s header.

But the Hammers captain was offside from Emerson’s delivery.

Nevertheless it was another disappointing day for big-spending Chelsea as they failed to take a grip of a humdrum game.

Potter has now overseen a run of just two wins in 13 Premier League games. 

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His free-spending bosses will be starting to wonder why.

While West Ham were unchanged and could name only eight substitutes, including two keepers, Chelsea flexed their moneybags muscles.

Felix was among five of their eight January signings to start the game.

The loan star had the ball in the net inside nine minutes but had been offside from the initial through ball.

But seven minutes later, £107m man Enzo Fernandez sent in a cross, Felix was onside and then calmly volleyed into the net.

Mykhailo Mudryk seemed to have fouled Jarrod Bowen in the build-up. The £88m Ukrainian almost provided a more conventional assist, only for Kai Havertz also to be offside before taking the ball round Lukasz Fabianksi.

West Ham had offered next to nothing until Michail Antonio’s backheel from a Bowen cross forced a save from Kep Arrizabalaga.

But suddenly they equalised. This time Bowen nodded on a Vlad Coufal cross and Emerson stole in at the back post to finish from close range.

The London Stadium woke up from its lunchtime doze, for a few minutes at least.

Noni Madueke had already looked dangerous on his full debut for Chelsea and a trademark burst and shot brought the best out of Fabianski. At the other end, Thiago Silva found the legs to catch up a breaking Said Benrahma, then a Bowen error led to another counter-attack that Mudryk and Fernandez wasted between them.

The chances kept coming, with Felix hitting a free kick that Fabianski flung himself to his left to push away.

The second half followed the same pattern – a lot of mediocrity, punctuated by odd moments of excitement.

When a Fabianski throw sent Bowen off on a promising break, his attempted pass to Antonio was intercepted. Declan Rice hit a shot wide.

Chelsea were also struggling, although Antonio’s touch on a Reece James free kick sent the ball only just past Fabianski’s left-hand post.

The game needed something to liven it up and the managers tried, with five substitutions between them with a quarter of the match to go.

On came the Chelsea “old guard” – Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell and wantaway winger Hakim Ziyech.

News that Marc Cucurella was coming off was greeted first by cheers from the visiting fans, and then by boos aimed at him specifically.

Danny Ings, back sooner than expected from the injury suffered on his Hammers’ debut, replaced Antonio.

Chilwell had a great chance to make an immediate impact but delayed his shot long enough for Nayef Aguerd to block it.

Mount burst into the penalty area only for his cross to be kicked away by Fabianski.

Soucek thought he had won it with seven minutes to go, but his joy was shortlived.

Chelsea screamed for a penalty when the Czech blocked a Conor Gallagher shot with his hand as he fell.

But VAR did not help the Blues twice and, to be honest, they didn’t deserve it.