Date: Saturday, November 23 Venue: Upton Park Kick-Off: 17:30 Can Chelsea get their season back on track with victory over struggling West Ham?
Team News
West Ham will be without Winston Reid ahead of the visit of Chelsea, after the defender underwent ankle surgery. Razvan Rat is a doubt after sustaining a hamstring injury while on international duty with Romania, but Joey O'Brien and James Collins are in contention. This match will come too soon for Chelsea forward Fernando Torres, who is still recovering from an abductor muscle injury. Ashley Cole will play despite sitting out England's game against Chile with a rib injury. He returned against Germany in place of Leighton Baines. (BBC)
Key Stats
This is the 100th meeting of the clubs in all competitions. Chelsea have won 44 times, West Ham 37 and there have been 18 draws. West Ham are without a win in their last four home games in the league (D1, L3 D1), their worst run under Sam Allardyce. Frank Lampard has scored in three of his last four Premier League appearances against his former club West Ham. This is the start of three successive London derbies for the Hammers, with Fulham at home and Palace away still to come.
Likely Line-Ups
West Ham Jaaskelainen, McCartney, Collins, Tomkins, Demel, Nolan, Nolan, Diame, Downing, Morrison, Cole Chelsea Cech, Cole, Cahill, Terry, Ivanovic, Ramires, Lampard, Willian, Oscar, Schurrle, Eto'o
Match Preview
This landmark 100th meeting between the two sides marks a busy London schedule for West Ham United. After this, they host Fulham before travelling to Crystal Palace, and manager Sam Allardyce may feel it is the latter of these three games where three points are most likely to lay. Sam Allardyce has picked up just two points in his previous six top-flight meetings with Jose Mourinho, losing all three home games, while his side are without a win in their last four games at Upton Park. Chelsea meanwhile come into this game off the back of a poor run of form themselves, losing and drawing their last two games against Newcastle and West Brom, respectively. The Blues may consider themselves fortunate not to have lost two on the spin after Eden Hazard's late, and highly controversial penalty spared their blushes against the Baggies, and Mourinho will be hoping for less drama here. Dependent upon results elsewhere, West Ham could find themselves in the relegation zone by the end of play this weekend, and I just can't see them taking anything away from this game. 0-3
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
