On Sky
This Saturday evening Chelsea make the short trip to Upton Park to take on West Ham United in a Premier League fixture. After the two week international break, Jose Mourinho will be looking to pick up the pace, a pace that has slackened off courtesy of picking up only one point from the last six available in games against Newcastle United (a) and West Bromwich Albion (h). The fixture, always a tricky one, will hopefully see West Ham continue their recent run of form whereby goals will be hard to come by, but wouldn`t it be just our luck if we were the fall guys and conceded several. However, we must remain confident and believe that this will be a successful, and highly enjoyable, trip into the darker side of London.
Vital Quotes:
As we head towards Upton Park, you get the feeling that West Ham United sense they can pull off something akin to a shock result. The fact that Chelsea have stuttered in their last two games, attaining only one point from the last six, has caused Sam Allardyce to comment a this pre-match press conference,
“With those two results for Chelsea there`s a chance to see where their weaknesses lie.”
I`d worry more about out strengths Sam!
West Ham Team News:
Sam Allardyce has seen his season beset with injury problems, most notably to his record signing Andy Carroll. Recently another forward, Ricardo Vaz Te picked up an injury that has put him on the sidelines, prompting Sam to offer the former Chelsea forward Carlton Cole a short term contract. Also on the books at Upton Park is another ex-Chelsea favourite son, Joe Cole. However just like during his latter days at Stamford Bridge, Joe has been unable to shake off a run of injuries that have hampered his starting eleven chances. Recently, in a training session, the highly rated and fancied by Arsenal centre back, Winston Reid, picked up an ankle injury that will see him sidelined.
Player to watch: Mark Noble
A consistent performer who many feel deserves a chance in the England international set-up.
Chelsea Team News:
Jose Mourinho takes his squad to Upton Park with only one long term casualty, the unfortunate young Dutch star Marco Van Ginkel. However, Jose will be still smarting from getting his team selection wrong against Newcastle, where he openly admitted he made 11 mistakes. Things didn`t get much better against West Brom and it will be intriguing to see who makes the starting eleven this time out. Will Jose shuffle the pack again or will it be some familiar faces?
My personal choice would be:-
Cech, Azpilicueta, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Oscar, Mata, Hazard and Torres
How about you?
Player to watch: Frank Lampard
Absolutely loved (not) by the Upton Park faithful, it would certainly make me smile if Frank could get on the score-sheet against his former club, not that the abuse that rains down on Frank at Upton Park bothers him!
Match Facts & Stats
Last season we suffered the humiliation of leading at Upton Park but then being comfortably beaten, a rare defeat at Upton Park in recent times.
Ref Watch:
The officials for what is a hugely anticipated clash are:-
Referee – Chris Foy
Assistants – G. Beswick, M. McDonough
Fourth Official – L. Mason
Match Prediction:
I hate going to Upton Park, it`s like going back in time. Walking down Green Street, past that market place, you are always aware of menacing looks, always knowing that those loveable East End rogues are just itching to have a go. But that just makes it all the sweeter when you come away with a victory, especially in the manner of the one when we were 3-0 up inside the first twenty minutes a few years ago. We enter this game on the back of two poor results, Jose Mourinho will be keen to stop the rot developing into that all too familiar November blip. Will it happen, of course it will, West Ham are having trouble scoring and are there for the taking, I reckon it`ll be a quiet claret and blue following filing back past that reference market.
Next Fixtures:
Our next fixture will see us travel to Switzerland to take on FC Basel in the Champions League. Hopefully, Chelsea can get some kind of revenge for the defeat Basel inflicted upon us at Stamford Bridge.