Chelsea battle West Ham in tricky London derby test

[Chelsky Boy Luke 21]

With the Capital One Cup in the bag, Jose Mourinho has been quick to re-focus Chelsea's attention to the Barclays Premier League, with a trip to West Ham United on Wednesday evening next on the Blues list.

After clinching his first bit of silverware since his return to Chelsea, Mourinho will go into the tie at Boleyn Ground confident his team can capture the three points and take advantage of the slip up by Manchester City's 2-1 defeat at Liverpool on Sunday, leaving Chelsea's five-point advantage at the top of the table intact with a game in hand.

With only 8 Premier League games remaining, Mourinho has to feel his team is firmly in the driving seat to lift the Premier League Trophy. If like me you've bet on this you can use BetBind.com to keep track of your bets.

Talking to Sky Sports "It's in the hands of everyone," the Portuguese said. "We have lots of difficult matches to play. City have difficult matches also”.

Mourinho also revealed how he attempted to shield his players from events at Anfield as they prepared for their Wembley date with Spurs.

"I knew that was an impossible mission, but I didn't want the television on in the hotel or on the bus," he added. "I told them I didn't want any kind of manifestation or disappointment if City scored in the last minute, or Liverpool won. I wanted complete silence. We were successful on that. But one member of my staff jumped up in the bus. [silvino Louro, assistant first-team coach]. I wanted to kill the guy. He broke the rule."

Chelsea are unbeaten in their last six league outings, although they were left disappointed to be held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Burnley on 21 February.

West Ham, meanwhile, have not won any of their last six matches in all competitions and were beaten 3-1 at home by London rivals Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Hammers goalkeeper Adrian, however, has previous experience of frustrating the Chelsea manager as he helped former club Real Betis complete a 1-0 win over Mourinho's Madrid side in 2012, before putting in another superb display in a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge last season.

"I don't know if Mourinho remembers me but when I play against him I have got some good results," the Spaniard told West Ham's official website. "Personally, I feel good when I play against Mourinho."

Team News:

Chelsea will continue to be without Nemanja Matic, who serves the last installment of a two-match ban for his red card against Burnley, while fellow midfielder John Obi Mikel is once again a doubt with a persistent knee problem.

For West Ham, Morgan Amalfitano is still suspended after his dismissal against West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup, and Carlton Cole's hamstring injury means he remains a fitness concern for manager Sam Allardyce.

Provisional West Ham Team: Adrian, Jaaskelainen, Collins, Cresswell, Demel, Henry, Jenkinson, O'Brien, Potts, Reid, Tomkins, Downing, Jarvis, Kouyate, Lletget, Noble, Nolan, Poyet, Song, Cole, Sakho, Valencia.

Provisional Chelsea Team: Blackman, Cech, Courtois, Ake, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Christensen, Filipe, Ivanovic, Terry, Zouma, Cuadrado, Fabregas, Hazard, Mikel, Oscar, Ramires, Willian, Costa, Drogba, Remy.

Match Appointments


Referee: Andre Marriner

Assistants: S Ledger, G Beswick

Fourth Official: N Swarbrick

Current Form

Previous Meetings

Match Facts

·Jose Mourinho has yet to be beaten in seven Barclays Premier League matches against West Ham (W6 D1), while Chelsea have won 13 and lost one of their last 17 BPL matches against the Hammers.

·West Ham have failed to score in five of their last six Barclays Premier League matches against Chelsea, including the last four in a row.

·Only one team has prevented Chelsea from scoring in their last 27 Barclays Premier League matches (Sunderland).

·The Hammers have won only one of their last 10 Barclays Premier League matches (W1 D5 L4).

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[CHOULO19 24,332]

For some reason, I'm about as nervous about this as I was for the final! That midfield battle is going to be a real tough one!