West Ham defender Emerson was thrilled to get one over on his former club Chelsea, with Brighton up next tomorrow.

Our Hammers kicked off the first home game of the 23/24 season with a win in a thrilling London derby against Chelsea last weekend.

New signing James Ward-Prowse managed to bag two assists in his debut with West Ham, whilst our first signing of the summer Edson Alvarez came on in the second half with a solid performance.

Nayef Aguerd opened the scoring for the home side just six minutes in, through a headed finish from Ward-Prowse’s corner. Chelsea levelled from Carney Chukwumeka’s strike, and almost grabbed a second from a penalty decision, however Enzo Fernandez’s efforts were cleared by Alphonse Areola.

Michail Antonio scored the second just minutes into the second half, but moments after West Ham were down to 10 men after Aguerd was sent off following his second yellow card.

The hammers held out and Lucas Paqueta’s penalty in added time secured us the 3 points.

It was former Chelsea player Emerson that won the penalty after being felled by the blue’s substitute Moises Caicedo. Emerson spoke to West Ham’s Official Website after the game on how he believed that the team deserved to win.

“It’s always special to play against Chelsea and win too,” he explained, alluding to opponents he represented 71 times before crossing London. “I have a lot of respect for them, for the club, but I am fighting for West Ham and I’m happy with the win.

“It’s not easy for us when you lose a man, especially when it’s a defender. You need to run more and there was more space to cover against Chelsea’s wide players, so it was tough, but we were able to do it and hold on.

“It was a tough game. We fought a lot for these three points and, of course, it was against a big team. We know games against Chelsea are going to be tough but we fought for every ball and all the space on the pitch. We got what we deserved, and we enjoyed winning this match.”

Emerson joined West Ham last summer for around £13m. The left wing back had a shaky start in east London, but seemed to look more confident towards the end of the season, and more recently was a solid player in last weeks game.

This may mean the search for a new left back is reconsidered. It was rumoured earlier this month that the hammers were eager to go in for Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen, and was confirmed by ExWHUEmployee that “it is thought we could still be in the running for Maatsen as an alternative to Emerson on the left side”.

It seems a loan is West Ham’s best option for the player, however Burnley will also be contenders in the race to sign him, so ultimately it will of course come down to whoever is willing to pay more.

Written by Katie Vine.