Saturday 23rd November
17:30
Boleyn Groud
West Ham United vs Chelsea
Analysis
We've learnt in recent times that Chelsea are not unbeatable.
They haven't won in their last two league games, both of which were against very beatable opposition in Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion. And on their last visit to the Boleyn we learnt first hand just how beatable the Blues are.
And there is a common theme in how to stop Chelsea. In each of the three games I've mentioned, all three opposition sides defended deep, soaking up pressure and attempting to hit on the counter attack.
Last season, West Ham made 46 clearances in our win against Chelsea. This season, West Brom made 53, and Newcastle made 54. The images below show the clearances by, first, the Baggies and then by Newcastle.
What you'll notice is that both sides made a considerable amount of clearances deep within their own penalty areas. This kind of backs to the wall defending is common against sides with the quality that Chelsea possess, and it is an area in which West Ham will need to excel should we hope to gain anything from the game on Saturday evening.
Something you just have to accept when you face Chelsea, is that they will create chances. Despite the best effects of any defence, the Blues can and will forge opportunities to score goals.
This season, they've created a whopping 132 chances in 11 games - or 12 chances per game.
A lot of this creativity can be attributed to the talents of Chelsea's attacking midfielders. Eden Hazard has created 22 chances in total - bagging one assist so far - to lead the way in the creativity stakes. However, the likes of Juan Mata, Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Emboaba Oscar are not far behind.
The image below shows Chelsea's top five most creative players. The left hand column shows chances created that were not assists, and the right hand column shows assists collected.
In last season's win, Carlton Cole was instrumental in leading the line, against a defence including Cesar Azpilicueta, Ashley Cole, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic. The big striker bagged a goal and an assist in that game, and put in, arguably, his best performance in many years.
I've heard rumours that Cole may be in line to start against his former club tomorrow, in a move away from the recently ineffective 4-6-0 formation. If this is indeed the case, let's hope we see the Carlton of this this time last season, when he led the line superbly.
Just to illustrate the performance we got from Carlton last year, below is his head map from that game. What you can see, is that the former England striker worked his socks off all over the pitch, and made a real handful for Chelsea' centre halves to deal with.
Let's all hope for another performance of that quality, should we see the big man on the pitch this weekend.
http://epl.squawka.com/west-ham-united-vs-chelsea/01-12-2012/english-barclays-premier-league/matches
Chelsea are beatable. West Ham are capable of beating Chelsea.
That doesn't mean it'll happen, but it certainly means I'll be sitting down on Saturday evening feeling pretty optimistic.
COYI
Head to Head
40% Head to Head Win % 39%
53 Won 52
28 Drawn 28
52 Lost 53
242 Goals Scored 226
226 Goals Conceded 242
Recent Form
W L D W D L Last 6 W W W L W D
7 Goals Scored 12
6 Goals Conceded 5
W L L W L D Home/Away Form D W W W W L
8 Goals Scored 12
10 Goals Conceded 4
Form Player (Last 6 League)
Stewart Downing - John Terry
6 Appearances 6
469 Minutes Played 540
177 Sum Squawka Performance Score 229
30 Average Squawka Performance Rating 38
209 Passes Attempted 349
157 Completed 322
75% Success Rate 92%
14 Chances Created 0
0 Assists 0
5 Attempts on Goal 8
3 On Target 3
0 Goals 0
10 Take Ons Attempted 0
3 Successful Take Ons 0
30% Success Rate 0%
3 Tackles Made 9
1 Successful Tackles 6
33% Success Rate 67%
4 Interceptions 9
4 Clearances 52
2 Blocks 7
2 Defensive Actions Per Game 11
7 Aerial Duels 33
4 Won 25
57% Success Rate 76%
0 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
Last Meeting
17 March 2013
1-0 Frank Lampard 19'
2-0 Eden Hazard 50'
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1
Jussi Jääskeläinen - Petr Cech
Guy Demel - Cesar Azipligueta
James Collins (61') - Gary Cahill
Winston Reid - (78') David Luiz
Joey O'Brien - Ashley Cole
Gary O'Neil - Frank Lampard
Mohamed Diamé (46') - Ramires
Ricardo Vâz Te (80') - (70') Victor Moses
Jack Collison - (85') Juan Mata
Matt Jarvis - Eden Hazard
Andy Carroll - Demba Ba
Subs
Raphael Spiegel - Ross Turnball
George McCartney - Branislav Ivanovic
James Tomkins (61') - (78') John Terry
Emanuel Pogatetz - Ryan Bertrand
Matthew Taylor (46') - (71') Emboabo Oscar
Carlton Cole (80') - (85') Jon Obi Mikel
Marouane Chamakh - Fernando Torres
Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
West Ham United: Winston Reid, James Collins, Joey O'Brien, Rǎzvan Raţ, Matthew Taylor, Ricardo Vâz Te, Andy Carroll
Chelsea: Marko van Ginkel, Fernando Torres
Suspensions
West Ham United: n/a
Chelsea: n/a
Opposition Last Time Out
vs West Bromwich Albion
Goals Scored: 2
Goals Conceded: 2
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1
Petr Cech
Branislav Ivanovic Gary Cahill John Terry Cesar Azpilicueta (73')
Frank Lampard (64') Ramires
Willian Emboabo Oscar (73') Eden Hazard
Samuel Eto'o
subs:
Mark Schwarzer
Ashley Cole
David Luiz
Kevin de Bruyne
Juan Mata (73')
Jon Obi Mikel (73')
Demba Ba (64')
Best Player: Eden Hazard
Squawka Rating: 57
Worst Player: Petr Cech
Squawka Rating: -43
Top 5's (Min 5 Apps)
Goals Scored
Ravel Morrison 3 - 4 Eden Hazard
Ricardo Vâz Te 2 - 4 Emboabo Oscar
Joe Cole 1 - 2 Samuel Eto'o
Mark Noble 1 - 1 Andre Schurrle
Kevin Nolan 1 - 1 Frank Lampard
Assists
Matt Jarvis 2 - 2 Frank Lampard
Kevin Nolan 2 - 1 Eden Hazard
Mohamed Diamé 1 - 1 Samuel Eto'o
Ravel Morrison 1 - 1 Fernando Torres
Mark Noble 1 - 1 Juan Mata
Passing Accuracy
Ravel Morrison 87% - 92% John Terry
Mark Noble 84% - 91% Jon Obi Mikel
Joe Cole 83% - 90% Ashley Cole
Stewart Downing 83% - 89% Juan Mata
Kevin Nolan 81% - 88% Gary Cahill
Chances Created per game
Stewart Downing 2.1 - 2.1 Juan Mata
Mark Noble 2 - 2 Eden Hazard
Matt Jarvis 1.3 - 1.6 Andre Schurrle
Rǎzvan Raţ 1 - 1.4 Ramires
Kevin Nolan 0.9 - 1.3 Frank Lampard
Successful Dribbles per game
Mohamed Diamé 1.9 - 2.4 Eden Hazard
Mark Noble 1.8 - 1.3 Emboabo Oscar
Ravel Morrison 1.4 - 1.1 Ramires
Guy Demel 0.8 - 0.8 David Luiz
Joe Cole 0.7 - 0.8 Fernando Torres
Tackles per game
Mark Noble 2.5 - 3 Ramires
Mohamed Diamé 2.5 - 2.5 Branislav Ivanovic
Guy Demel 2.1 - 2.4 Ashley Cole
James Collins 2.1 - 2.2 Emboabo Oscar
Winston Reid 2 - 2.1 Frank Lampard
Aerial Duels Won per game
Modibo Maïga 6.2 - 4.3 Branislav Ivanovic
James Collins 3.3 - 4.2 John Terry
James Tomkins 3.3 - 3.8 Gary Cahill
Winston Reid 3.2 - 1.9 Fernando Torres
Guy Demel 1.6 - 1.7 Demba Ba
Manager
Sam Allardyce - Jose Mourinho
41.5% Current Club Win % 66.5%
44 Won 135
29 Drawn 44
33 Lost 24
39.9% Managerial Career Win % 67.5%
338 Won 441
228 Drawn 130
280 Lost 82
2 League Titles 7
0 Cup Wins 13
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