Date: Wednesday 1st July 2020
Venue: London Stadium
Kick-off: 20:15 BST
As the post-lockdown
games continue, tonight it’s West Ham’s FA Cup, as we travel to the London
Stadium in the Premier League.
We progressed to
the FA Cup semi-final in our last game, with a win against Leicester City but we
definitely didn’t cover ourselves in glory for the first 45 minutes. To be
fair, it was a changed side in that half and Frank addressed that with 3 subs
straight after the break but we looked a little less resilient than we had in
our win against City in our last Premier League game.
Our problem now is,
with the sides below us keeping up the pace to narrow the gap,, we have
absolutely no margin for error. So, the pressure is all on us, and West Ham
will happily contribute to that. They might
have lost two out of two and found goals harder to come by than hand sanitiser
at the start of lockdown, but they’ll throw whatever they’ve got left at us. The
question is, will it be the Chelsea in the second half against City, or the
Chelsea in the first half against Leicester that turn up?
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going
into today’s game, West Ham manager David Moyes, says “The last three teams are teams going for the Champions
League, but there is no such thing as a free hit. I’m trying to win and we’re
preparing to win all the games. We went to Anfield and gave a really good
account of ourselves. I’ve got to hope we can tip the balance and take
something. We’ve got to try and score goals and not concede.”
Chelsea manager
Frank Lampard, meanwhile, says “It will be different as we have all seen how different it is
with no fans. It makes it more about an 11 vs 11. A London derby should always back their team
and give them the edge, but it doesn’t bother me. We have had a few games and
we know what it is.
I am enjoying it
that we are back and doing what we do. Leicester felt the most different as we
didn’t put our best performance in the first half. I am happy to win games,
elements of the way we have played. We showed steel against Man City, it’s
something we must improve and get better at. We need to keep working and we
need to focus on every part of our game.”
SQUAD NEWS
For West Ham, Snodgrass
(back) is out, Angelo Ogbonna is “getting closer”, Haller (hip) is a major
doubt and Masuaku will be assessed. Declan Rice is expected to start.
For Chelsea, Tomori
remains out and Pulisic (calf) and Christensen (hip) face late tests.
TEAMS
WEST HAM (Possible line-up): Fabianski;
Fredericks, Ogbonna, Diop, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Fornals, Noble, Anderson;
Antonio
CHELSEA (Possible
line-up): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Zouma, Alonso; Barkley, Kante, Kovacic;
Willian, Giroud, Loftus-Cheek
LAST SEASON
West Ham 0-0 Chelsea (23 September 2018)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
WEST HAM: LLWLLL
CHELSEA: LWDWWW
OTHER STUFF
- West Ham are looking for
their first league double over Chelsea since 2002-03.
- West Ham have only lost one
of the past five meetings.
- West Ham have only won one
of their past 11 league matches.
- West Ham could lose four
home Premier League London derbies in a row for the first time.
- Only Southampton have earned
fewer points at home than West Ham’s 15 this season.
- Chelsea have won five
consecutive games in all competitions
- Only Manchester City have
scored more away league goals than Chelsea’s 31 this season
- Chelsea have only lost once
in eight Premier League matches
- Chelsea have only kept one
clean sheet in their 15 Premier League away matches this season
PREDICTION
BBC Sport: West Ham 0-1 Chelsea
90min.com: West Ham 1-0 Chelsea
Sportsmole: West Ham 1-2 Chelsea