The dreadful month of November has finally ended for the Blues which saw them win just 1, draw 4 and lose 2 games in all competitions. After two goalless draws under the Rafa era, Benitez will hope to be 3rd time lucky.
What : West Ham United vs Chelsea F.C.
Where : Boleyn Ground,Upton Park,London
When : 1/12/2012
Time : 12:45 GMT
Preview :
- Both teams have had great starts to the season seeing Chelsea lead the table for most of the season so far while West Ham were sitting in the 6th place for a quite sometime. But with gradual decline in forms sees both teams needing a win and more importantly the 3 valuable points.
- Chelsea will continue to have problems with their manager. With Rafa Benitez doing absolutely nothing better than Di Matteo so far to either please the management or the fans, his only hope will be to create a positive impact on the players. A win at West Ham will not guarantee a complete fan support for him but things will start to get better. But a draw or a loss to Chelsea’s bitter local rivals will be the worst he can hope for.
- On the other hand, West Ham were expected to face a series of tough results and any points on the way will be a bonus. Their last two games were against Spurs and United and their next 4 fixtures read Liverpool, West Brom, Everton(both in sublime form) and Arsenal. So they will hope to get at least 1 point against the struggling Blues as they look to be the most vulnerable compared to the other teams at least now.
Team News : West Ham United
- West Ham have scored just 16 times this campaign out of 14 games, with five of those coming from the evergreen Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble the next best with two.
- They need Andy Caroll to find some form and start scoring if they are to remain in the top half of the table.
- With no new injuries or suspensions to be worried about, Big Sam can field in his best XI. And with the likes of Carroll, Nolan, Noble and Diame, all capable of troubling Chelsea.
Probable team :
Jaaskelainen;
Demel; Reid, Tomkins, O’Brien;
Noble, Diame; Maiga, Jarvis,
Nolan; Carroll.
Chelsea Team News :
- Terry, Lampard and Sturridge will still be unavailable for Chelsea. So Ramires, Mikel and Romeu will fight for the 2 places in the midfield. And more importantly, Torres will have no pressure on his position once again despite being in horrendous form. Rafa loves Torres too much,hence a false #9 tactic cannot be expected.
- With 2 back to back clean sheets, Chelsea will be less worried about defence considering West Ham’s goal shy strikers, instead will be worried about the missing spark up front.
- People fail to notice Hazard’s poor form, thanks to Torres but the Belgian needs to pull up his socks and must once again combine well with with Mata and Oscar if Chelsea are to score.
Predicted Line-Up
Cech;
Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole;
Mikel, Ramires;
Mata, Hazard, Oscar;
Torres.
Prediction :
Some may say that a goal either ways would be enough to seal 3 points. But the strike force of both the teams are under pressure, hence we can expect to see an open game with both the teams trying to win the game. But since signs favor the Blues, including the end of the nervy November, we predict Chelsea will finally win under Rafa.
West Ham 0 – 2 Chelsea.