Date: Saturday 11th
February 2023
Venue: London Stadium
Kick-off: 12:30 GMT
Today’s early kick-off
sees us face West Ham at the London Stadium.
West Ham have found better form since the start of the year, winning three and drawing two of their opening six games and they come into today’s game after taking a point off a good Newcastle side last time out. We also come into the game off the back of a draw but ours was less celebratory because for us, it was a frustrating one against Fulham. West Ham, in 17th, have lost four of our last five meetings but the win came in this fixture last season and we fare less well away to them, with two wins from eight visits. Chelsea currently sit in 9th, with just two wins from the last 12 Premier League games and without a win from the last seven away from home. Hardly surprising since you have to score to win and we couldn’t buy a goal most of the time.
West Ham felt hard done
by in the reverse fixture in the summer and will no doubt have held onto that as
motivation to keep them out of the relegation zone this weekend. We could do with our defence turning in another clean sheet here
today, although that seems unlikely given our usual games against West Ham. There
have been seven winning goals scored in the final five minutes of Premier
League meetings between us – and I can’t see us getting the sort of favour we
got in September.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, West Ham manager David Moyes, says “I think when you spend £600million, it should give you half a chance.
But money isn’t the only thing to do with football, you’ve got to get the team
right, you’ve got to get other parts of it going well. Hopefully, we can give
Chelsea a good game, obviously they are a really good team, they’ve got some
really talented players they’ve bought in, but they will need time to gel just
like the ones we bought in in the summer have taken a bit of time to gel as
well.
I believe we can have a good season. We have still got a lot to play
for. I think we’re showing a little bit better signs in some areas but we’re
going to be challenged by good teams like Chelsea, we’re going to be challenged
in the European competition, which we’re going into again in March, and we’re
in the next round of the FA Cup. We want to try and keep ourselves involved in
as many tournaments as we can. But our focus is solely on the Chelsea game and
trying to do the best we can against Chelsea.”
Chelsea
manager Graham Potter, meanwhile, says “Going away from home in the Premier
League is not straightforward everybody knows that. It’s something (our away
form) we’re trying to address, we have to start against West Ham of course. I’ve been there with Brighton and had a
decent record there but it’s a totally different context (going to West Ham
with Chelsea), different situation.
It’s a London derby – there’s no love
lost between the teams – so it’s a good atmosphere to test ourselves in. They’re always tough games. David Moyes’
sides are always competitive, organised, they have good players and are strong
at set-pieces. So for us, it’s about
understanding it’s a London derby and matching their intensity.”
SQUAD NEWS
For West
Ham, Maxwel Cornet (calf) and Kurt Zouma (thigh) are out,
Thilo Kehrer and Alphonse Areola (both hamstring) are doubts, whilst Gianluca
Scamacca (knee) is back in training but today may be too soon for him.
For Chelsea, N’Golo Kante (hamstring),
Edouard Mendy (finger), Christian Pulisic and Armando Broja (both knee) all
remain out and are joined by Raheem Sterling (knee) who’s injured again. Wesley Fofana (knee), Denis Zakaria (thigh)
and Mateo Kovacic (calf) aren’t expected to feature, although Joao Felix is
available again after his three-match ban.
TEAMS
WEST HAM (Possible line-up): Fabianski; Johnson, Ogbonna, Aguerd; Coufal, Rice, Paqueta, Emerson;
Benrahma, Bowen; Antonio
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Arrizabalaga;
James, Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Cucurella; Gallagher, Fernandez, Mount;
Madueke, Felix, Mudryk
LAST SEASON
West Ham 3-2 Chelsea (4th
December 2021)
FORM (PL)
WEST HAM: LLDLWD
CHELSEA: DLLWDD
OTHER STUFF
- West Ham have lost four of the past five league
meetings.
- West Ham won this fixture last season.
- West Ham have lost five of their 10 home league
games in 2022-23.
- Chelsea have gone seven successive away games
without a win in all competitions.
- West Ham have taken four points from their last two
games.
- Chelsea have only managed nine goals in their 11
top-flight away games this season.
- West Ham have lost eight of their 10 most recent
Premier League London derbies.
- Chelsea can go three league games in a row without
scoring for the first time since a run of four in September 2007.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: West Ham 1-1 Chelsea
