West Ham controversially had a 90th-minute goal disallowed as Chelsea edged past their London rivals with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea still had to ride their luck en route to a third win in six top-flight games, however, with Maxwel Cornet denied a late leveller for West Ham.
Thomas Tuchel’s tinkering gives Chelsea and Mendy some brief respite
Edouard Mendy raced out to dive at Jarrod Bowen’s feet, but his weak palm gifted Cornet the chance to lash home.
The Hammers’ wild celebrations were cut short, however, as the goal was ruled out after a VAR review.
The officials deemed Bowen’s trailing leg on Mendy a sufficient foul to disallow the goal, leaving the Blues to tiptoe to three vital points.
England full-back Ben Chilwell only joined the fray with 18 minutes to play, but turned the game on its head.
Michail Antonio had tapped West Ham into a 1-0 lead after a low-quality opening hour.
But Chilwell then provided a majestic piece of control from Thiago Silva’s lofted pass before slotting home a fine one-touch finish.
The ex-Leicester defender then teed up Havertz to side-foot home, with the Blues expecting to see out the win before that last-ditch drama with Bowen, Mendy and Cornet.
New recruits Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria watched on from the stands, with both men doubtless mightily relieved at this result.
Boss Thomas Tuchel branded the close of the transfer window a “fresh start” and, despite clear structural problems in this match, three crucial points will hand everyone at Stamford Bridge a major lift.
A turgid, goalless, chance-less first half generated precious little to stir the footballing soul at a frustrated Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, with Wesley Fofana starting just three days after his £70million move from Leicester.
The French defender was immediately comfortable in the set-up, but the same could not be said of Chelsea’s midfield, or their attacking structure.
Conor Gallagher regularly incurred the wrath of Tuchel on the touchline for taking up the wrong position when the Blues had the ball.
Chelsea bossed the ball but failed to threaten at all in the first half, with some familiar tactical teething problems coming to the fore.
The three-man midfield could not solve the disconnect between the bottom and the top of Chelsea’s attack.
Gallagher might perhaps have operated more centrally, in something akin to a number 10 role, had Fofana had more time to train and…
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