Ben Chilwell’s first goal in almost 11 months was a special one for a host of reasons, most notably as it inspired the Blues to a come-from-behind victory over West Ham at Stamford Bridge, but also for the waves of emotion it presented to the defender following his long road back from a serious knee injury.

The 25-year-old came off the bench to score and assist in our 2-1 win against the Hammers, a result that secured a vital three points for Thomas Tuchel’s men at the end of a frustrating afternoon in SW6.

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‘Defensively they’re a good team,’ the England international said of West Ham’s resistance, which lasted for over 75 minutes. ‘They know how to set up in a mid-to-deep block and defend well, then try to counter.

‘They have good speed up front so they try to use that to their advantage, They made it difficult for us and we found it hard to break them down. The manager is always talking about the substitutions having a positive impact and we’re grateful today that we could do that.

‘The last 20 or 30 minutes had a lot of different emotions – decisions that went our way and decisions not our way, but in the end we’re just happy to get the win.

‘Of course we can play better as a team. We know that but these are the wins that we need to give us that resilience and mental toughness going forward, to know that we can pull through these tough games, get three points and get that winning mentality back among the group.’

Chilwell’s equaliser came just five minutes after his introduction as he utilised his aerial presence in the box to win a header at the back post and then cheekily slipped the ball past the onrushing Lukasz Fabianski.

It was an unorthodox goal that sparked wild scenes of celebration and set the scene for a dramatic finale, with fellow substitute Kai Havertz then netting the winner with two minutes of normal time remaining.

‘I don’t really know where to start,’ Chilwell said of his strike. ‘It was very off the cuff. I knew I couldn’t bring it down with my chest so I just tried to flick it on and it ended up being a flick-on to myself.

‘I’ve turned and the ball was still in play, then I saw the keeper had come out and just thought if I can get it past him and hopefully on target it’ll be a goal. I’m not quite sure how it went in but it did and it was that little bit of luck that I’ve been looking for.

‘I’ve had to be patient and bide my time, to make sure I’m training hard so that moments like today when I come into the game I can impact it positively. At 1-0 down, to come in and have a positive impact at Stamford Bridge in front of a full stadium was a really nice feeling, and to help Kai get the winner was great as well.’

Following those late goals, there was still time remaining for even more drama as Maxwel Cornet fired West Ham level before the referee consulted the pitchside monitor and chalked it off for a foul on Edouard Mendy.

That decision left the visitors aggrieved but Chilwell felt it was the right call.

‘I went over to have a look at the VAR screen because I didn’t really see it live and from my point of view it was a foul,’ he added.

‘The ref has obviously decided the same. We put ourselves in that situation and should have done better but in the end it’s that little bit of luck that we’ve maybe missed out on in the past couple of weeks and luckily we got it today.’