For most of this encounter at the London Stadium, Chelsea found ourselves in possession and laying siege to our opponents' penalty area, but were left with nothing to show for it as the home side made their two threatening spells at the start of each half count, before a late penalty made it three.

West Ham opened the scoring when Nayef Aguerd headed in a James Ward-Prowse corner at the back post, but from that point on it was all Chelsea until half-time, despite Lucas Paqueta scuffing a volley against the post.

We equalised through a brilliant Carney Chukwuemeka effort, the midfielder dummying his way clear of one defender before curling a shot into the back of the net, and we could have been leading by the time the break arrived. Raheem Sterling was brought down as he entered the box and the referee pointed to the spot, but Enzo Fernandez's penalty was saved by Alphonse Areola.

The second half was defined by another West Ham goal, this time Michail Antonio racing away on the counter to slot in following a ball over the top. Chelsea pushed hard for a second equaliser, with virtually all of the remaining game played in West Ham's half, while Moises Caicedo and Mason Burstow both came on to make their debuts.

West Ham rubbed salt into the wound in injury time when the referee gave a penalty against Caicedo and Paqueta converted from the spot to make the final score 3-1, a harsh result on the Blues.

No reward on the road

There was only one change by Mauricio Pochettino to the team which had opened the season with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool, Malo Gusto coming in for his first Chelsea start in place of injured captain Reece James.

Sanchez had to be brave early on, when a West Ham corner bounced dangerously towards the back post. Despite the flying boot of Jarrod Bowen launching himself towards it, our Spanish goalkeeper dived head-first into the mix to punch clear.

That warning wasn’t heeded, though, and there was nothing Sanchez could do when West Ham took the lead from a very similar situation a couple of minutes later. It was another Ward-Prowse corner from that same side, our left. However, this time it made it all the way to the back post, where Aguerd was able to win the physical battle against Conor Gallagher and head in the opener.

We responded by piling on the pressure and, after Jackson had twice threatened, we were level courtesy of a fine individual goal by Chukwuemeka. Chilwell’s low cross was only cleared as far as our No17 and Carney showed quick feet to dummy and jink away from Tomas Soucek, before curling an excellent finish between two defenders. It was Chukwuemeka’s first Chelsea goal on his 17th appearance for the club, although this was only his fourth start, and what a way to get off the mark.

We resumed our siege of West Ham’s box almost immediately, although there was a timely reminder of West Ham’s threat when Lucas Paqueta’s snapshot came off the base of Sanchez’s left-hand post.

For the second time in the first half the referee blew his whistle for a Chelsea penalty, and this time there was no offside flag to save the Hammers, after Soucek had halted a weaving Sterling run illegally. However, Enzo’s spot-kick was saved by Areola to his right to deny us a half-time lead.

There was a further sour note just before the break, when Chukwuemeka went from joy at his first goal to disappointment as he was forced off with a knee injury, to be replaced by Mykhailo Mudryk at half-time.

We started the second half camped back around West Ham’s penalty area, but again it was the home side who found the net first. Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi initially did well to thwart Said Benrahma on the counter, but when we failed to clear, the ball was chipped straight back over our defence, where Antonio was able to hold off the challenge of Levi Colwill and finish low past Sanchez.

Behind again. It was time for Pochettino to try something different, and it came in the form of new-boy Caicedo coming off the bench to make his Chelsea debut. The Blues’ hopes of a second equaliser were then given a further boost when Aguerd was shown a second yellow card, for a lunging challenge on Jackson, and was sent off, reducing West Ham to 10 men with a little over 20 minutes remaining.

There was a second Chelsea debut as we continued to add more attacking options, young striker Burstow coming off the bench for his first senior Blues appearance. The closest we came was a low shot by another substitute, Noni Madueke, which needed a combination of Coufal and Areola to keep out, but ultimately it was West Ham who added a third, Paqueta scoring from the penalty spot after being brought down by Caicedo.

What it means...

One point from our first two Premier League fixtures isn't the start we wanted, but it is still very early days for Pochettino and his new-look team.

What comes next...

We only have five days to wait until we are back in Premier League action, this time at Stamford Bridge, as we host newly promoted Luton Town at 8pm on Friday 25 August.

The teams

Chelsea (3-5-2): Sanchez; Disasi, Thiago Silva, Colwill; Gusto (Burstow 83), Enzo, Gallagher (Madueke 75), Chukwuemeka (Mudryk h-t), Chilwell (c) (Caicedo 61); Sterling, Jackson
Unused subs: Bergstrom, Cucurella, Maatsen, Humphreys, Ugochukwu
Scorer: Chukwuemeka 27
Booked: Disasi 36, Jackson 72

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Areola; Coufal, Zouma (c), Aguerd, Emerson; Soucek, Ward-Prowse (Alvarez 81); Bowen, Paqueta, Benrahma (Ogbonna 69); Antonio (Fornals 76)
Unused subs: Fabianski, Johnson, Cresswell, Cornet, Ings, Mubama
Scorers: Aguerd 7, Antonio 54, Paqueta pen 90+6
Booked: Aguerd 13, 68; Emerson 45
Sent off: Aguerd 68

Referee: John Brooks