West Ham v Chelsea: All eyes on Chelsea's final third!
A little under an hour, Rafa Benitez takes charge of his third game as Chelsea manager. After two goalless draws against Manchester City and...
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A little under an hour, Rafa Benitez takes charge of his third game as Chelsea manager. After two goalless draws against Manchester City and Fulham in the week, he will be keen to build on the solidity we have shown at the back and to create more goal scoring opportunities today.
Chelsea have been better at the back and that is without question. David Luiz misses the game after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season in midweek and Gary Cahill is expected to come in as his replacement alongside Branislav Ivanovic.
If reports are to be believed this morning, Oscar will be rested for the game after Juan Mata was the same against Fulham in what is expected to be the only other change in the Chelsea starting eleven.
As posted on here this morning, Rafa has told Roman Abramovich that his team is not fit enough and the squad isn't strong enough and pinpointed the fact that more or less the same eleven has been playing week in, week out. However, his hand is forced once again as Luiz joins John Terry, Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge on the sidelines once again.
So what of Chelsea this afternoon? I expect Marko Marin to make a start in place of Oscar today if Rafa decides to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation. However, he could decide to revert back to a 4-3-3 formation and play Victor Moses from the start up alongside Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres with Juan Mata playing alongside Ramires in the middle and Mikel as our holding midfielder.
The team selection and performance is under the microscope yet again as Chelsea look to put an end to our stuttering start going forward under Benitez.
A clean sheet would be a bonus today but our emphasis in games like these should be on moving the ball quickly and getting the ball into feet in attacking areas quickly also.
We haven't seen much of that in the last two games and I am looking for an improvement today.
West Ham at home are a difficult side to play against. You know what you are going to come up against with Andy Carroll up top and Kevin Nolan playing off of him. As long as we can deal with Carroll in the air and take charge of possession of the ball and knock it about with confidence, Chelsea can win this one today.
It's one thing saying it but another to get out there and do it. We've not done that for two games and it's about time we did!
Come on Chelsea!
Find your Chelsea tickets at Viagogo!
Carefree & KTBFFH!
Chelsea have been better at the back and that is without question. David Luiz misses the game after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season in midweek and Gary Cahill is expected to come in as his replacement alongside Branislav Ivanovic.
If reports are to be believed this morning, Oscar will be rested for the game after Juan Mata was the same against Fulham in what is expected to be the only other change in the Chelsea starting eleven.
As posted on here this morning, Rafa has told Roman Abramovich that his team is not fit enough and the squad isn't strong enough and pinpointed the fact that more or less the same eleven has been playing week in, week out. However, his hand is forced once again as Luiz joins John Terry, Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge on the sidelines once again.
So what of Chelsea this afternoon? I expect Marko Marin to make a start in place of Oscar today if Rafa decides to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation. However, he could decide to revert back to a 4-3-3 formation and play Victor Moses from the start up alongside Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres with Juan Mata playing alongside Ramires in the middle and Mikel as our holding midfielder.
The team selection and performance is under the microscope yet again as Chelsea look to put an end to our stuttering start going forward under Benitez.
A clean sheet would be a bonus today but our emphasis in games like these should be on moving the ball quickly and getting the ball into feet in attacking areas quickly also.
We haven't seen much of that in the last two games and I am looking for an improvement today.
West Ham at home are a difficult side to play against. You know what you are going to come up against with Andy Carroll up top and Kevin Nolan playing off of him. As long as we can deal with Carroll in the air and take charge of possession of the ball and knock it about with confidence, Chelsea can win this one today.
It's one thing saying it but another to get out there and do it. We've not done that for two games and it's about time we did!
Come on Chelsea!
Find your Chelsea tickets at Viagogo!
Carefree & KTBFFH!
