Chelsea F.C. v. West Ham United Saturday, October 24, 2015 Upton Park, London, UK TV (US): NBCSports Time: 10:00AM Eastern Standard Time (US) Table and History 4. West Ham United 5-2-2 (WWWDDW) . 12. Chelsea 3-2-4 (LLWDLW) History: Chelsea FC: 47-19-37 (all competitions) Injuries (as of 10/22/15) West Ham: Reid, Song, O'Brien (out) Chelsea: Ivanovic, Courtois (out) Liklihood of Jose Mourinho blaming the referee for Chelsea's performance High. Always high. Likliehood of Zouma playing right back Very high. Beer pairing For this all-London derby, perhaps seek out a London style bitter. Yes, Fuller's ESB is a decent standby, but if your local growler or bottle shop has Red Racer ESB (Central City Brewers) or Great Lakes Moondog (Great Lakes Brewing), go for it. Any seasonal ESB will do nicely for this match; the more bitter, the better. That way, the pill won't taste so bad going down after watching Fabregas and Ramires lose the ball for the 10,875th time.
You honestly deserve your own section on WAGNH. So West Ham is like... good. Doesn't bode well for us. I was actually OK with our performance against kiev which is shockingly positive considering recent commentary in regards to almost all of our play, so who knows maybe the boys will come into this confidently.
This is a BIG game - When East meets West - and the only acceptable beer choice for this is a Meantime IPA https://www.meantimebrewing.com/our-beers/beer/india-pale-ale/ This is currently the best IPA on the planet. Enjoy!
This game will be fast and it will be physical and we need to attack and everybody needs to be 100% at their best and on top of their game. We have to win and we have to win in a convincing style. This is a must win game. No goalless draws or sloppy late goal equalizers in 2-2 thrillers. Another clean sheet would also be preferable. Anything less and quite frankly heads will have to roll or at least be earmarked for execution. I would like to see RLC and young Kenedy - because they are young, tall and hungry. But most likely we shall the short fellah Fabregas and the erratic midget Ramires.
Ivanovic is out until the end of October. And Mourinho has admitted he's not concerned by his absence and has a list of four possible squad ‘solutions’ - one being the inclusion of teenager Aina. He said: “I have four solutions. I have Azpilicueta. I have the adaptation of Zouma or Ramires. And I have Ola Aina, an 19-year-old . . ." Well. How about that then? Hello Ola. Ramires at rb? I can see your faces going into tiny little spasms. . .
My prediction is a 3-1 loss this weekend. Sorry. Our leading scorer is "Own Goals." West Ham will not be scared of us. They are young and have a manager who isn't afraid, either. We haven't shown we can break down any kind of defense.
Pedro and Remy are also out I think. While any other year I'd say 3 points is a given, I'm pretty sure we will lose. Spammers have been rather good so far and while we've kept few clean sheets lately, the opposition has been mediocre at best. This will be so ugly.
Predicted lineup: ----Begovic---- Zouma--Cahill--Terry--Az --------Fabregas--Matic--- Willian---Oscar--Hazard ---------Costa-----------
Every team knows how we will line-up and who plays. The only surprise that can come from Chelsea these days is if a player has an outstanding performance.
It would be nice to burn the place down with a scorching performance as our send off from this ground but to be honest I am just hoping we dont embarrass ourselves.
Chelsea without the injured trio of Pedro, Loic Remy and Branislav Ivanovic. Pretty much expect to see this team below. . .although Jose will probably go with Ramires instead of Oscar. I would like to see Kenedy at some point - this lad looks like he has some real genuine magick and we need something new - a new option or two.
Facts are all a little distorted right now . . . very hard game to predict as we have no idea what kind of Chelsea are going to show up. The Great Chelsea of Hazard, Costa, Fabregas, Matic and immaculate defending OR the evil twin Chelsea of mediocrity where we look like we are struggling in a pre-season game with Tamworth FC.
That is the volley attempt of someone like.....me not a professional footballer. Need better from Costa.
Why do I even bother to watch these? It's like watching Dortmund pre-Klopp. I thought I wouldn't have to endure that kind of torture ever again.