Pizy

Right, theyve been playing shite teams and still not been convincing. I haven't heard a single pundit mention them in any sort of top 4 race (it's still early obviously) so that to me says that they've not impressed. We've dominated for most of our games so far. Not been 100% convincing at all times but feels like we've been better than our two London rivals.

I don't know about Spuds, but even Arse fans have been saying they've been lucky in almost every match they've won. From the journo's I follow on Twitter it seems they've been scraping by. I havent seen either of them play as well as we did against Liverpool.

I've admittedly not seen a second of Southampton play this season. No idea what to expect. All I know is that it's a must win going into the break and with a desperate Mourinho/United who will want to get their season back on track afterwards.

Fucking embarrassing from Newcastle. That was the worst I've ever seen United. They had midfielders playing at CB, ffs. They were all over the shop and Newcastle still couldn't hold on and win. Fucking useless. I really looked forward to the meltdown and probably sacking. Anyways, it looks annoying to see Spuds above us. It feels like they've been a clear level behind us this season in terms of quality yet are ahead, albeit with a game in hand. Arse probably will be as well by the time we kick off. Both of them feel like they should be way behind us.

If he had any kind of end product and could get consistent minutes he could be a mirror of Yaya Toure. Same stature, same graceful running with the ball.

Our attacking players are why we won't challenge for the title this season. Morata is a black hole up top. Willian is dangerous up until it actually matters and has almost zero end product. Pedro is extremely streaky. It's pretty sad that our midfielders in RLC & Kovacic look more dangerous and likely to score than our attackers. Morata needs to be dumped ASAP in January. Sad to see him like this. Literally Torres mk2.

Lots of rotation to our key player but still a very strong looking XI. Something we couldn't have done in recent seasons. I probably would've rested Willian & Kova as well and let CHO and Barkley start.

Messi is a fucking God. Absolutely unstoppable here.

For the love of God, please rotate the entire team. Like West Ham, Southampton are a team that look on paper like an easy 3 points. They just lost their last game comprehensively to Wolves and have been poor in general this season so far. We need our lads fully sharp and fresh for that game so we can enter the international break potentially joint top of the league on points. No need to tire our legs by playing a strong XI at home here. We should be able to beat Videoton (which sounds more like a Pokemon than a football club) with the likes of Morata, Moses, Willian, etc starting. Don't even include Jorginho or Hazard in the squad. Sit Kante, Azpi etc.

Heartbreaking to concede at that moment, but fair result in the end considering the chances they had early. Hugely encouraging performance, though. Were it not for an unbelievable, world class strike we'd have kept a clean sheet against arguably the best attack in Europe. That was literally the only possible spot Sturridge could've put that to score. We won the midfield battle (Kante, Jorginho, and Kova were all excellent) we were very solid at the back, and both Hazard and Willian were great. That last pice that separates us from the top 2 is that world class forward. Giroud, bless him, works his ass off but just can't score the 25-30 per season we need. What a fucking coach Sarri is, though!

Come on, Chelsea, please PLEEEEEEEEASE win this!

Arse, Spuds, and City all win. Feels like Arse should be a mile behind us but I think they're only 1 point back.

Yeah, Luiz is the biggest worry in this game. That front 3 is terrible to deal with for even quick, mobile CB's. Good as David is on the ball given time, getting caught out of position and having to scramble to recover will be suicidal against this team. We basically need to play our best in every area of the pitch to beat Liverpool here. In my opinion the scariest side to go against in the league at the moment.

Huge performance needed from Willian today. Disappointed Pedro couldn't make it in time.

Win this and we can probably eliminate the need to worry about United as a top 4 rival. I figured they'd be our biggest threat to a CL place this season but if we can go 9 points ahead of them already I can't see us letting that slip. I haven't wanted to win a match this badly in a loooong time.

My guess is that Klopp will have one of Keita, Wijnaldum, or Milner pressing and man-marking Jorginho all game long in order to disrupt our entire way of playing. Hopefully he can cope. They'll also have their fullbacks and midfielders doubling up on Hazard of course. We have to also be prepared for their usual blitz in the first 15 minutes.

So the 3 questions seem to be whether Rüdiger & Pedro are fit and whether Kovacic or Barkley will be preferred from the start. Man, imagine how massive 3 points would be for the fans and the players' morale. The players will probably start to believe they really can win the league this season.

If Kova goes back to RM, Ramsey on a free wouldn't be a bad option.

Glad with the rotation. Honestly think thisll be a poor game from a quality standpoint with so many changes for both sides. Lots of players who have no chemistry or cohesion from playing regularly together. Meh, I'll prob just follow the game via Twitter and skip watching it. League Cup just doesn't do anything for me in these early rounds.

I agree we should heavily rotate. I'll actually be pissed off if we see a very strong side. Especially if Jorginho and Kante play. We need them as fresh as possible for the weekend. I couldn't care less about the League Cup.

Don't know why people are having a go at Jorginho. He was one of the only players who looked like making anything happen. All of the attacking players were poor.

Easily our worst attacking performance of the season. No coincidence that it coincided with possibly the worst match of Hazard's career at Chelsea. He was abysmal today and made the wrong decision nearly every time he got it. Was imperative that we picked up 3 points ahead of playing Liverpool. Now we go into that one possibly without our best CB if Rüdiger has a serious injury. They'll rip us apart. This game also showed us why any talk of a title challenge is premature. Huge difference between ourselves and City/Liverpool in the final third. They each have lots of players who can score and cause havok. We have 1 basically, and when he plays poorly we struggle mightily.

So many sloppy, lazy passes man...

We also see today why Pedro is preferred as a starter to Willian. He's a big reason why we look slow in the final third. He only ever gets the ball when he's standing still. Pedro is constantly running through the lines and down the flanks and receives the ball while he's in stride. Willian just grinds our moves to a halt.

Similarly to last week, we look great in possession and are controlling the midfield. But we are playing far too slowly and that plays right into their hands. They can easily keep everything in front of them. You saw Sarri yelling at them to speed things up. We also look super vulnerable down both flanks because we're pushed so high up the pitch. We need to start pressing high and quickening our passing up because the longer this goes scoreless the more West Ham will feel they can pip us on the counter.