West Ham, occupies mere 16th place in the table and has even 12 points fewer than leading Chelsea. The Hammers won for the first time this season in the previous round and we expect that will put up a fierce resistance to the Blues now. West Ham won Chelsea last year at home and drew away.
Of course, the fact tells us that the Hammers are not without chances on Sunday, although they will face team which has perfect score after five rounds. On the other hand, West Ham had a dreadful start of the new season as it lost first four matches, while only last week it won Everton 3-1 away. Scorers were Arnautovic and Yarmolenko, where the latter one scored two goals.
However, both of them left the match a bit later due to injuries which worries manager Pellegrino. According to latest information the two of them should be ready for the big match with Chelsea. The Hammers have recently dispatched third-division Wimbledon and reached the next round of the League Cup. We should add that due to injuries still out of action are stopper Ried, midfielders Wilshere and Lanzini, and forwards Carroll and Chicharito.
Probable lineups West Ham: Fabianski – Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku – Noble, Rice – Yarmolenko, Anderson, Antonio –Arnautovic
Unlike West Ham which won its first points in the new season only in the previous round, Chelsea is together with Liverpool the only team with perfect score in the Premier League. Thanks to a bit better goal difference the Blues currently occupies the leading position. Besides, three days ago at the start of the Europa League they easily defeated, playing with just half power, Greek’s runner-up PAOK 1-0 away, so the atmosphere in the changing room cannot be better.
Of course, new manager Sarri deserves lot of credits for rejuvenating the Blues. He is known for preferring offensive football, which suits very much players that he has right now at his disposal. True, Chelsea lost at the very beginning of new season to Manchester City in the English Super Cup but it was followed by six-game winning streak, and right now against West Ham the Blues are interested only in new three points. Let’s add that due to injuries the match should skip defender Emerson and midfielders Kovacic and Ivan Ginkel.
Probable lineups Chelsea: Kepa – Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Alonso – Kante, Jorginho, Fabregas – Willian, Giroud, Hazard
Of course that leading Chelsea wants to continue with the winning streak against its city rival, but on the other hand the Hammers regained their self-confidence after last week’s triumph against Everton, and consequently we expect to put up a fierce resistance to the Blues on Sunday.
Pick: both teams to score
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