Enzo Fernandez misses chance to become derby hero after Chelsea star’s penalty during victory for West Ham

Enzo Fernandez was denied the chance to put Chelsea ahead against rivals West Ham, seeing a penalty saved by Alphonse Areola.

The Argentine superstar stepped up to take the spot-kick after Raheem Sterling was brought down by Tomas Soucek.

Fernandez was denied the chance to put Chelsea ahead from the spotGetty

The nature of the penalty call was contentious, but for Fernandez, the focus was purely on putting the ball in the back of the net.

With a big puff of the cheeks, the 22-year-old did a stop-start run up before placing his penalty in the perfect spot for Areola to make the save low to his right.

It was a miss that ensured that the London derby remained 1-1 at the half-time whistle following a closely-contested first half.

Responding to the decision, one fan wrote: “Never a pen,” while another said: “Outside the box so obviously not [a penalty].”

A third supporter said: “No penalty. Sterling started going down outside the box so it’s a free kick or yellow for the dive.”

One final fan said: “Its clearly outside the box, the referee should spot that from his position, and everyone on VAR should be sacked.”

Nayef Aguerd opened the scoring with a powerful header from a James Ward-Prowse corner, before Carney Chukwuemeka’s well-taken effort leveled the game.

However it was West Ham’s day as Michail Antonio and then Lucas Paqueta wrapped up a 3-1 win for the east Londoners.

Fernandez was a key part of Argentina’s World Cup-winning side last year, however the midfielder was not tasked with taking a penalty in the showpiece event with France.

Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino has now seen why.