West Ham take on Chelsea tonight in arguably their toughest home match yet at their new stadium.
Not many teams have managed to come out on top against the current leaders, but West Ham have previous. Even if you ignore last season when they were in freefall, Chelsea have already lost at the London Stadium. This will be a different challenge, with a full Blues side expected to play and a 10 point lead to restore.
Chelsea have managed to take themselves to the top with a different system to most of the league, and it is because of that they are so hard to play against. Many sides do not know how to counter them, but the Hammers have the players.
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Turn Strengths into Weaknesses
Their main strengths lies in their width. This comes not from their attack, but the wingbacks that get forward whenever possible. Because they play with 5 at the back (including the wingbacks) Chelsea never seem to be left short in defence. This is because very few sides play with true wingers anymore, they tend to cut inside when possible.
As such the centrebacks aren’t drawn out of position often and their gameplan works. but West Ham have the personnel to be able to exploit this.
If Andy Carroll starts, which seems to be the rumour at the moment, then the centrebacks are not going to want to leave him. One of Cahill and Luiz will be stuck to him at all times. This means Snodgrass/Ayew on the left and Feghouli on the right would be given time or space to get into the Chelsea defence and get crosses across.
If Chelsea look to combat this by forcing Moses and Alonso back to defend more often then our full backs will come into play. They can both cross from deep and with Carroll in the box the side will want to be playing around the Chelsea box as much as possible.
Next: 5 Things you'll think/say during West Ham v Chelsea
West Ham can win tonight, but they will have to be clever and work to what they have. If they try and play through the center, where Matic, Fabregas and Kante prowl then they will have a tough time getting anywhere.