After a tiring journey to the Ukraine for a Champions League encounter, Jose Mourinho’s men are getting ready for a small journey as they face West Ham United in a crunch league game in the Barclays Premier League. Both clubs took all three points from their last league game and will be hoping to continue their performance.
Chelsea were held by Dynamo Kyiv in mid-week and Mourinho will be hoping to bounce back and take all three points from this game. In this article, you will find the Preview of the game along with the Team news and Predicted Lineups.
The West Ham vs Chelsea match will be played on Saturday the 24th of October at the Boleyn Ground in London. The kickoff is scheduled at 3:00 pm BST (7:30 pm IST).
Team News
The new summer loanee Victor Moses will not be eligible to play against his parent club and will miss out on this game. Winston Reid will also be unavailable for selection due to an injury. However, Bilic can call upon the services of Enner Valencia after he has recovered from a knock he picked up earlier.
Jose Mourinho will be without the services of Thibaut Courtois and Ivanovic both of whom are sidelined due to injuries. Kurt Zouma might keep his place as a wing back after he was solid in the mid-week fixture. Loic Remy and Pedro had small niggles that kept them out of the Champions League fixture and it remains to be seen if they are fit in time for the clash against West Ham.
Chelsea had a pressure lifting victory against Aston Villa in a game that Jose dropped Hazard to the bench. Even in that victory, Chelsea were far from convincing and their lack of firepower up front was visible in the game against Kyiv. Hazard who got his place back in that game sizzled and will surely be back in contention for a start against West Ham.
Slaven Bilic’s side are on a high as they have already taken 9 points against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City and will hope that they can drop another upset to the Blues. They were impressive in their last game against Crystal Palace as they pushed them aside with a 3-1 score line and if they can put the same kind of pressure on Chelsea, there is a great chance of a positive result for the home side.
Payet and Lanzini are the danger men for West Ham and Chelsea should be aware of the threat they carry. If these two players are allowed time on the ball, Chelsea will have a hard time to get a result out of this game.
Expected Line-ups:
West Ham:
Adrian, Jenkinson, Tomkins, Collins, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Lanzini, Payet, Zarate, Sakho.
Chelsea:
Begovic, Zouma, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Matic, Ramires, Willian, Fabregas, Hazard; Costa.
Predictions:
Chelsea are in dire need of confidence and a trip to a team placed 4th in the Premier League table is not ideal. Mourinho should act quickly to get his team back to the marauding best they were last season but with the results in the near past are anything to go by, Bilic’s men will be able to get a result against the English Champions.
Our Prediction:
West Ham 2-1 Chelsea
ODDS:
West Ham: 31/10
Chelsea: 19/20
Draw: 11/4