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Enzo Fernández and Jarrod Bowen lead the teams out. Anthony Taylor is the man in the middle. We’re ready to go.
Warm-ups are done at the Bridge. Chelsea were harking back to the 90s with their training strip based on that notorious away kit.
“I was pretty stunned to see all the changes for Chelsea,” writes Sue. “Confused - still a good line up but ‘it’s not quite Carling’. Disrespectful towards West Ham? Or just juggling to find his best team?”
To be fair to Liam Rosenior, Chelsea play again on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup against Arsenal. Rest players in that one and you risk real embarrassment. Today is their ninth game this month.
A West Ham season-ticket holder has been banned for five games after the unfurling of a banner that said “Time 2 Sell – Name Your Price” in protest at the club’s board at last weekend’s home win over Sunderland. Joshua Wood, 27, was said to have breached regulations regarding items allowed inside the London Stadium, with the banner adjudged to have been too big. He plans to appeal.
Wood said: “They’ve been clever in how they’ve approached it because they’re not saying I’ve been banned for protesting. They’re saying I’ve been banned for bringing up a banner which doesn’t fit the regulations of their dimension sizes. I have no doubt that if it said: ‘We love you, Brady and Sullivan’ we wouldn’t be talking today.”
Full time in the Premier League 3pm kick-offs
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Brighton 1-1 Everton
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Leeds 0-4 Arsenal
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Wolves 0-2 Bournemouth
West Ham can close the gap to Leeds to three points.
“Transfer wishful thought … ” writes Chelsea fan WB. “Straight swap Liam Delap for Nicolas Jackson before the window closes? We can all learn from our mistakes, no shame in it.”
Yes, Delap has not really got going since joining from Ipswich last summer. He worked with Liam Rosenior at Hull though, so … maybe it’ll all come together. Faith has been shown in him today, especially after João Pedro’s performance on Wednesday.
Remember you can get in touch with me via email if you have any predictions or thoughts on this clash. If you support Chelsea or West Ham, perhaps you have an opinion on what your club need before the transfer window shuts on Monday.
West Ham have been linked with another of Chelsea’s frozen-out players in Axel Disasi. The defender has played once this season – for the under-21s in the EFL Trophy. Chelsea are still chasing Jérémy Jacquet of Rennes.
Here’s our transfer tracker:
Raheem Sterling is no longer a Chelsea player, as of this week. He hadn’t played for 18 months and had been training alone but the 31-year-old’s lucrative contract has now been terminated.
Jacob Steinberg, who is at Stamford Bridge today, has been wondering what is next for the former England international:
Sterling’s departure is said to represent a sizeable financial saving for Chelsea. His contract, which had 18 months left, has not been paid up in full. It was time for a clean break. Sterling is too young to retire. He is probably done at the highest level but there will be managers who will back themselves to revive him.
Team news: Palmer starts for Chelsea
After his cameo off the bench against Napoli, where he set up both of João Pedro’s goals, Cole Palmer is in from the start for Chelsea today. He is one of seven changes Liam Rosenior makes to his XI from the Champions League in midweek. Estêvão is missing for personal reasons.
Nuno only makes one change from West Ham’s 3-1 win against Sunderland, with Malick Diouf making his first start since returning from Afcon, replacing Ollie Scarles. New signing Adama Traoré is on the bench.
Starting XIs
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sánchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Hato; Caicedo, Fernández; Gittens, Palmer, Garnacho; Delap.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, James, Acheampong, Fofana, Cucurella, Santos, Neto, João Pedro, Guiu.
West Ham (4-2-3-1): Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Mavropanos, Diouf; Soucek, Fernandes; Bowen, Pablo, Summerville; Castellanos.
Subs: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Scarles, Potts, Magassa, Kanté, Traoré, Wilson.
Preamble
Hello and welcome. East meets west in London today as West Ham travel across town for a visit to Stamford Bridge. Both teams, rather unusually, are in good spirits ahead of this one – Chelsea have a 100% record in the league under Liam Rosenior and beat Napoli to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. Meanwhile, West Ham have won their last two, including last weekend’s fairly stress-free outing against Sunderland.
Nuno Espírito Santo will be wanting to avoid a repeat of August’s 5-1 drubbing at the London Stadium, although he was still in charge of Nottingham Forest then. Graham Potter and Enzo Maresca were in the dugouts – a fair bit has changed.
Kick-off at the Bridge is 5.30pm (GMT). Team news is coming shortly.
