Graham Potter was back on familiar terrain in Chelsea – as far as taking his old chair in the Dugout.
Recent changes to Stamford Bridge mean that the road technical area was once the home, and vice versa.
Apart from the fact that things are almost the same as when he was fired after seven months in 2023, after a series of three victories from eight games and apparently in turmoil with the team.
The happy victory for the newest man to inhabit the Home Dugout last night is also only the third in the last eight games. An identical form of form almost two years ago that Potter was taught.
Nevertheless, Enzo Maresca is still considered the man to put forward Chelsea and the three points earned against huge costs against West Ham tilts them back into the top four.
Whether they have the Gumption to stay there is extremely doubtful because Maresca sometimes had his head in his hands about a few things that have passed the football that was played by his team.
Chelsea went behind a defensive clanger, confronted with an anxious waiting until their equalizer was cleaned up by VAR and then needed Aaron Wan-Bissaka's own goal to finally see opponents who struggled for Momentum the entire season.
A victory is a victory, but there are cracks below the surface and there is nowhere to go on the transfer market between now and summer.
Maresca had a relatively quiet day for the deadline of 11 p.m.
His braviest step was to dump cock-up keeper Robert Sanchez because he made one mistake too much and replaced him by Understudy Filip Jorgensen.
When the name of the DANE pre-match was read, the loud cheers of the Matthew Harding Stand showed what the Chelsea fans thought of that decision.
The joy, however, was briefly demolished in just the eighth minute when the new man hit a dangerous cross that was smashed by Andy Irving, with Jarrod Bowen who lay on him in the box.
It was similar to the other moments later when Chelsea broke with speed and Noni Madueke hit a curly shot just wide of the pole.
It is always strange when two high -profile teams meet each other on Transfer Deadline Day, because half of the crowd wonder if there will be break news between the kick -off and the last whistle.
Maresca did not enjoy this window and label a 'disaster' with all the 'noise' – the speculation – that surrounds his players in particular while playing for such a busy club.
But those who let the MatchDay team know that at least their future is safe. So why Chelsea seemed so edgy in the first half is a question that Maresca and his team had to answer during the break.
They played the more stylish football of the two, but struggled to find reach and direction when it came to the crunch.
Cole Palmer, the deadliest sniper in Chelsea, had a pinpoint free kick over the bar that pulled a squat saving from Alphonse Areola.
But he also struck the stripping lights at the top of the barn with one shot and put another right in the arms of the Hamers keeper.
Noni Madueke, Jadon Sancho, Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez also barely missed – but still missed.
Potter's West Ham shuffled this year without a recognized striker with skipper Jarrod Bowen broken from a foot.
Ring to go, Bowen wasted no time and no opportunities – a terrible back pass from Levi Colwill to burst into the Chelsea box and bow a shot along Jorgensen's dive on the ground floor.
The Maresca team was physically struggling, not just mentally. So much so that he was forced to take the wrestling striker Nicolas Jackson and Sancho only six minutes in the second half.
He had used four subs per hour, because the Italian desperate to inject some stability into his team that was seriously under the Cosh, but just as many because of their own mistakes.
A sloppy derby full of errors even saw ref Stuart Attwell falling at work. And Chelsea's equalizer was just as filthy.
Sub Pedro Neto 'Cross fell in the West Ham box and thanks to the weakest film by a visiting defender, Chelsea was left on Marc Cucurella almost on the throughline.
He managed to hit it back in the path of Fernandez who shot. It was blocked, but Neyo took the chance from close by. A long VAR control finally handed Maresca a lifeline.
Chelsea sealed it with 16 minutes to go when Palmer burst forward on the wing and a low cross in the square that took a huge deflection of Wan-Bissaka and walked over areola and in the net.
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