Match Preview: West Ham United vs. Chelsea

Chelsea take on London rivals West Ham United in what is a key clash for the Blues. Chelsea endured a disastrous November, winning just 1 match out of a possible 7 in all competitions. Chelsea’s last League win came against Spurs and the Blues will be keen to end their win-less run against the Hammers.

November was a tough month for Chelsea. A bad set of results ensured that manager Roberto Di Matteo lost his job and Rafael Benitez was brought in as interim manager till the end of the season. The decision to appoint former Liverpool boss Benitez has not gone down well with the fans. Results under him haven’t improved much, with Chelsea registering back-to-back goalless draws in his first 2 matches in charge against Manchester City and Fulham respectively. All this considered, the match is most certainly a must-win for Chelsea and anything less than 3 points on Saturday would be unacceptable.

Both teams have a very different style of play. While Chelsea’s slick attacking style is easy on the eye and has won them many plaudits, West Ham posses a more direct and physical style of play than their London rivals. The match should be an interesting one if both teams play to their potential.

Injury and suspension news:-

John Terry, Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge are still not fit enough to be considered for selection and will be unavailable. David Luiz will also be unavailable due to the fact that he has picked up 5 yellow cards in the Premier League.

For West Ham, Mark Noble returns from suspension and will be available for selection. Ricardo Vaz Te, Alou Diarra and Jack Collison are all out through injury and won’t feature for the Hammers.

Key stats:- 

1) The teams have met 30 times in the Premier League. Of these meetings, Chelsea have emerged victorious 16 times.

2)  West Ham picked up 5 points from a possible 15 in the Premier League during the month of November.

Predicted XI: Cech; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole; Ramires, Romeu; Moses, Mata, Hazard; Torres.

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