No Cole Palmer, Chelsea Still Have Estevoo

Myio Estevoo Willian starred when Chelsea beat West Ham United 5-1. (X/@ChelseaFC)

JAKARTA - Chelsea did not panic even though none of Cole Palmer had an injury moments before kick-off against host West Ham United. There is no problem without Palmer because the Blues have Estevoo who even set a club record in the London Derby.

Palmer had a groin injury while warming up against West Ham in the English Premier League competition at London Stadium, Saturday, August 23, 2025 in the morning WIB. In the aftermath, manager Enzo Maresca had to make a substitution because Palmer was a starter at the derby.

There was no choice for Maresca because only Estevoo Willian sat on the bench to replace Palmer. At a young age, Estevoo was immediately started in the second match of Chelsea.

Obviously, this young Brazilian national team star still lacks experience because it is the first time he has played in Europe and especially the Premier League.

However, Maresca put her trust in this former Palmeiras star. Apparently, Estevoo was reliable. Playing for 90 minutes, he provided an assist converted by captain Enzo Fernandez and changed the score to 3-1.

Starting from Liam Delap's pass that Estevoo received. He then brought the ball before releasing the cross towards Fernandez.

Estevoo also set a record because at the age of 18 years and 120 days, he became the youngest player in Chelsea history to provide assists in domestic competitions.

The goal made West Ham not move. Even though he had taken the lead through Lucas Paqueta's quick goal, Chelsea were able to equalize the score after Joao Pedro broke into the host's goal.

Furthermore, Pedro Neto turned things around by making the West London club 2-1 up.

Before the first half ended, Fernandez solidified Chelsea's advantage. The score changed 3-1.

In the second half, Chelsea, who were still hungry, managed to increase their victory through Moises Caicedo, who played the 100th match. Furthermore, the product fostered by the club Trevoh Chalobah closed Chelsea's victory to 5-1.

"I was very happy and the performance of the players impressed me. Especially because we were facing an inappropriate situation when we started the match," said Maresca.

"Cole was injured and we conceded when the game had only been running for five minutes. But the players showed a good reaction. This impressed me," he said again.

In that match, Estevoo did make a mistake that made Paqueta get the ball and then fired a spectacular shot to break into the goal of Robert Sanchez. However, Estevao paid for his mistake with a brilliant performance.

"We conceded because he lost the ball when he was about to attack. He needed to make mistakes so he could learn from mistakes. But overall his performance was very good," said Maresca.

"His reaction shows that he is a good player. That's why he is with us," he said.

Praise to Estevoo was also given by defender Marc Cucurella. According to him, even though he was young, he showed a mature figure.

"Estevao played amazingly," said Cucurella. "He's still young. However, he shows a mature figure," said the Spanish national team defender.