Graham Potter felt his sacking as Chelsea head coach, after just seven months in charge, was unfair and he left Stamford Bridge once again with a burning sense of injustice. With his new club, West Ham United, leading and impressing and Chelsea struggling, they were pegged back through a controversial equalising goal and fell behind to a decisive deflection. And, with that, Chelsea climbed back into the top four with just their second win in eight Premier League games.

In fact it was the first time since December 2013 that Chelsea turned around a deficit at home after trailing at half-time in the league. This was their 18th attempt to do that. Remarkably it means they are suddenly two points ahead of Manchester City and Newcastle United – who both lost at the weekend – with Enzo Maresca grabbing his coaching staff at the final whistle, after seven fraught minutes of added time when West Ham should have scored through Mohammed Kudus, in a sign of relief as much as celebration. How he needed this win and he spoke about how “mentally” vital this result was. “A huge result,” he reiterated.

Maresca had also talked about the importance of making a statement. Chelsea did that with the points, if not the performance although they will argue on the balance of opportunities they probably deserved it. “Playing this kind of game in February where we are still there is an important statement,” he claimed. With the transfer window closing, and news breaking during the game of Axel Disasi completing his move to Aston Villa and João Félix landing in Italy before joining AC Milan, this was a window of opportunity and Chelsea just about scrambled through it.

But it is also a sign of how unconvincing teams have been this season that Chelsea, despite their poor run, find themselves back in the Champions League places which Maresca has said is the target for this campaign. Yet they will have to play better than this to stay there. And so to the moment of controversy. Yet another big talking point. It came as Chelsea were struggling, badly, as they trailed and Maresca made a flurry of substitutions. Jarrod Bowen, West Ham’s captain and goalscorer, chased down a backpass by Tosin Adarabioyo towards goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen and was clearly barged over by Levi Colwill. It was a foul, it was missed by referee Stuart Attwell – and 24 seconds later Chelsea scored.

Jarrod Bowen puts West Ham AHEAD at Stamford Bridge! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1LxAEAFvDt. Much time was spent on a VAR check for a possible offside, as Marc Cucurella sent a cross back infield, but that was not the passage of play that mattered. Eventually it was deemed that the ball in by Pedro Neto had deflected off Vladimir Coufal and Cucurella was therefore onside. Neto, one of those substitutes, had slammed his shot home.

But why did the VAR – Michael Salisbury – not look at what happened to Bowen? It appeared he deemed it was a different phase of play when Jorgensen then launched the ball upfield. But, under the rules, there is no specific time in place to determine when a goal cannot be brought back for a foul and, so, he could – and surely he should? – have looked at it. It was crucial to what happened. “The first goal was a bit of a turning point and we felt it was a foul, you need those things to go your way,” Potter later said with Bowen adding: “We trust the VAR, the technology is there for a reason.”.

Maresca will argue that his attacking changes made a difference. Neto scored. And the other goal was forced when replacements were on the pitch but it was poor from Nicolas Jackson and Jadon Sancho. Both were ineffective while it felt telling that captain Reece James was substituted soon after being cautioned when he was embarrassed for pace by Carlos Soler – a midfielder not noted for his speed.

Pedro Neto equalises for Chelsea! 🔵 pic.twitter.com/AfDxKFJp8k. In fact Maresca changed all his attacking players bar one. He was never going to take him off until, right at the end, when he needed another defender. That player was Cole Palmer and, once again, he was involved in the flashes of quality that Chelsea produced – including forcing the winning goal. West Ham, organised and effective, had gone in front. Maresca had finally changed his goalkeeper, with Jorgensen replacing Robert Sánchez, and with his name cheered by the Chelsea fans, but he was beaten when Colwill underhit a backpass and Bowen latched onto it (as he of course threatened to do later which is probably why Colwill pushed him over). Bowen cut inside and beat Jorgensen easily.

How West Ham have missed the forward, who has been out injured with a broken foot since December 29, and what a difference he made and a danger he constantly posed. As did his England team-mate Palmer who forced West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola into a super save to tip over his free-kick soon after Chelsea fell behind. The momentum was with them and Palmer seized on it when they equalised as he did well to work his way into the penalty area. Even so it was undeniably a cross, rather than a shot, that took a heavy deflection off Aaron Wan-Bissaka as the defender tried to block with the ball spinning up and over Areola.