08/04/2018
Deportivohammer

Well it has been a while since I’ve done one of these previews and after last weeks win it’s great to be writing it again.  Southampton were completely over run by a rampant West Ham in the 1st half.  While the 2nd half wasn’t the greatest spectacle, it doesn’t matter when you are 3 up.

So on to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge I remember feeling very hard done by in this fixture last year Diego Costa deserved to be sent off for his challenge on Adrian and then he scored the winner.  But I doubt Adrian and certainly not Costa will feature today.

Chelsea will be very disappointed in how their title defence has gone.  They are 5th and outside the Champs League spots and 11 points behind 4th placed Tottenham.  Chelsea still have the F.A cup to focus on this year.  Recently they are on a very bad run of form losing 4 of their last 6 games and it seems like they are a team looking forward to the end of the season.

West Ham on the other hand are the same in the sense we have only won 2 of the last 6 but the big difference is we have won our last game and with all the confidence that comes with a win I fully expect West Ham to have a go at Chelsea today.

Chelsea have some doubts over keeper Courtois who has missed a few games recently as has Spanish forward Pedro.  Both should be back in contention but by no means straight back to the team.

West Ham United have received news that forward Mikhail Antonio will be out for the rest of the season while I think this is bad news I think it will be better for him to just have a lot of rest and come back completely healthy next year.  Injuries have affected a lot of players this year and its frustrating to see players like Collins, Reid, Antonio, Byram and Carroll constantly coming back, playing a few games and then having to miss a month. This needs to be sorted out as soon as possible.

Predicted Teams:

Chelsea : Courtois, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Moses, Alonso, Kante, Fabregas, Willian, Hazard, Morata.

West Ham United : Hart, Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Kouyate, Fernandes, Masuaku, Joao Mario, Arnautovic.

I really cant see Moyes changing the team that played so well in the 1st half last game out but I hear Hernandez has managed to shake illness and return to the bench.  unfortunately the game is a bit too early for Lanzini who should be back for the next game.

While I do not think Chelsea are a great team at the moment they do have some World Class players in Willian and Hazard and I think we will have to be at our best to get anything from the game.  1-1 is my prediction with us taking another important step to premiership survival which should never have been in question in the first place.