West Ham - Match Preview

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The Match

Chelsea welcome West Ham to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday for another Premier League London derby with the game set to kick off at 7.45pm UK time. The last time these two sides met in the reverse fixture last November at Upton Park, two goals from Frank Lampard and one from Brazilian midfielder Oscar led the Blues to a comprehensive 3-0 win over the London rivals.

Both sides head into this game in hugely contrasting form. Jose Mourinho’s men are in a rich vein of form as they are unbeaten in their last 8 matches in all competitions including having won the last seven – they last achieved this in 2009/10 season when they won 8 consecutive matches between August and September 2009.

Much of Chelsea’s season have been riddled with inconsistency and average performances but ever since their last defeat against Sunderland in the Capital One Cup back in December, they have found their rhythm and balance as a team; combining defensive solidity and ruthlessness in attack. Fourteen goals scored and more importantly, keeping 6 clean sheets in the subsequent 8 matches have helped the Blues to achieve this winning run.

In comparison, West Ham have enjoyed no such fortune this season with constant injuries to key players plaguing their squad throughout the season. As a result, manager Sam Allardyce has been under huge pressure this season with side currently sitting in the bottom three having won just 4 of their 22 Premier League matches this season – only 9 victories achieved in 30 matches in all competitions this season.

To compound matters, the Hammers suffered thrashings in the domestic cup competitions recently as Championship side Nottingham Forest put 5 goals past them without reply before Allardyce saw his side lost 9-0 on aggregate against Manchester City in the Capital One Cup semi-final – the biggest margin defeat suffered over two legs in history.

The injuries, however, seem to have improved according to Big Sam in his pre-match press conference stating “We’ve got out defensive players back into training, including Winston Reid”. Moreover, West Ham have also bolstered their squad by signing Italians Antonio Nocerino and Marco Borriello on loan from AC Milan and Roma respectively till the end of the season to alleviate their injury problems and boost their Premier League survival chances.

Chelsea are no doubt the favourites and will be confident to claim the 3 points to keep up the pressure at top of the Premier League - especially with a tough trip to the Etihad Stadium next Monday awaits – but West Ham would surely put up a fight in a bid to claim any positive result that would aid their survival cause.

Past 5 Premier League Meetings (P5 W4 L1 F12 A4 CS3)

23rd November 2013: West Ham 0-3 Chelsea

17th March 2013: Chelsea 2-0 West Ham

1st December 2012: West Ham 3-1 Chelsea

23rd April 2011: Chelsea 3-0 West Ham

11th September 2010: West Ham 1-3 Chelsea

Team News

Chelsea

Jose Mourinho will have a near full squad of players to select from for the visit of West Ham after he spoke to the media in his press conference earlier today. Fernando Torres will continue to his road to recovery having picked up a knee injury recently and will be out for another few weeks.

Dutch midfielder Marco van Ginkel will miss first team action for the rest of the season but will be back playing for the U21s at the end of March or beginning of April to gain back his fitness. New signing Mohamed Salah will not feature in this time as he will only arrive in England tomorrow having completed the signing to Chelsea on Sunday.

Provisional squad: Cech, Schwarzer, Blackman, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cole, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Ramires, Lampard, Matic, Oscar, Willian, Schurrle, Hazard, Ba and Eto'o.

West Ham

Sam Allardyce has been boosted by return of key defensive players in Joey O’Brien, Geoge McCartney and James Collins and will be available for selection while the same goes for new loan signings Nocerino and Borriello.

Captain Kevin Nolan is also back after serving a four-game suspension but Winston Reid will miss the game, despite having returned to training today, as it has come too early and former Blues Joe Cole will miss out as well with a groin injury.

Provisional squad: Jaaskelainen, Adrian, O'Brien, Johnson, Tomkins, Collins, Rat, Demel, McCartney, Diarra, Noble, Nocerino, Collison, Jarvis, Taylor, Diame, Nolan, Morrison, Vaz Te, Maiga, C Cole, Carroll, Borriello.

Stats and Facts

1. Should Chelsea beat West Ham on Wednesday, they would have won 6 Premier League matches in a row for the first time since the start of 2009/10 season (won 6 in a row between August-September 2009).

2. Chelsea have won 12, drawn 2 and lost just 1 of the last 15 Premier League meetings with the Hammers.

3. Chelsea have won 6 and drawn 1 of their last 7 Premier League games against West Ham at Stamford Bridge. The Hammers last won at Stamford Bridge 2002.

4. Chelsea have scored at least 2 goals in 5 of their last 6 Premier League matches against West Ham.

5. Frank Lampard has scored 5 goals in his last 5 Premier League games against West Ham.

6. Jose Mourinho has won only 1 and drawn 2 of 3 Premier League home meetings with Sam Allardyce.

7. Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 20 Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge - W17 D3 - and not failed to score in any of them while notching up at least 2 goals in 18 of those matches. However, the Blues have only scored more than 2 goals on 3 occasions.

8. Chelsea have kept 8 Premier League clean sheets this season, 1 less than West Ham (9).

9. Chelsea have been winning at both half time and full time in their last 4 home matches in the Premier League.

10. Chelsea have recovered more points from losing positions than any other side in the Premier League this season - 14.

11. West Ham have dropped more points from winning positions than any other side in the Premier League this season - 14.

12. Chelsea have allowed just 68 shots on target against them this season, fewer than any other team in the Premier League. (via Opta)

13. West Ham have hit the target with just 35 per cent of their shots this season, the lowest accuracy of any team in the Premier League. (via Opta)

14. West Ham are the only team in the Premier League who have not scored a headed goal this season. (via Opta)

15. West Ham have conceded at least 2 goals in 5 of their last 6 Premier League matches but have scored in all 6 of those matches.

16. West Ham have picked up 3 red cards in their last 4 Premier League away matches.

Match Odds (Final Result/Full Time)

Chelsea WIN - 2/11

DRAW - 11/2

West Ham WIN - 14/1

*Odds obtained from SkyBet*

TV

Depending on where you are from, you can watch the match in the following channels:

United States: NBC Sports Live Extra

Middle East: Al Jazeera Sports

Belgium: Sporting 2

India: Star Sports 4 India, Star Sports HD 2 India

For additional regions, you can check out the TV schedule for the match here.

There should be many match streams that can be found online if your local sports channels are not broadcasting the game or if you happen to be busy and cannot catch the game live, follow TalkChelsea on Twitter as it would provide live match commentary on the action.

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