Chelsea 2-0 West Ham - as it happened
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http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2014/dec/26/chelsea-v-west-ham-live Version 0 of 1. 2.50pm GMT14:50 Anyway, thanks all for your comments and company - enjoy the rest of your lives the holiday period. 2.37pm GMT14:37 Full-time: Chelsea 2-0 West Ham That was very, very good from Chelsea; their passing was ridiculously incisive, so too their movement, and West Ham just couldn’t compete. And yet, they almost did - had Amalfitano scored, and all that. But he didn’t, so Chelsea reassert themselves at the top; check to Manchester City. West Ham, meanwhile, will come again. Updated at 2.56pm GMT 2.36pm GMT14:36 90+3 min Chelsea reapply some gas, Drogba shooting, Adrian saving, corner eventuating. Somehow, following the initial delivery, Fabregas is allowed to collect the loose ball and pick his way along the by-line before cutting back into the path of Ramieres, who can’t quite adjust his feet to apply a finish. Updated at 2.38pm GMT 2.34pm GMT14:34 90+1 min West Ham have cdone well these last few minutes - Song and Amalfitano have made a difference, and so too, have Chelsea’s changes. Amalfitano forces a corner, and it’s headed for Collins, but Terry does well to clear. 2.33pm GMT14:33 90 min There shall be three added minutes. 2.32pm GMT14:32 89 min “Winning Kalooki matches is, indeed, our business, Big Dan,” emails Mac “The Fishknife” Millings, “but you’re trying to do it by dominating possession. Meanwhile, I’m laying down sets in lightning counter-attacks.” Surely it’s the other way - you’re dominating play with tiki-taka, I’m absorbing pressure and striking decisively on the break, the Madrid to your Munich. Updated at 2.56pm GMT 2.31pm GMT14:31 88 min Brilliant fron Song, who sways away from two challenges on the left touchline and swings a curling ball into the path of Amalfitatno. Ducking inside Terry and Cahill,. hesuddenly finds himself in on goal, and cutting across its face from the left, chips a finish over Courtois, who goes to ground - only to hit the post. Updated at 2.39pm GMT 2.30pm GMT14:30 87 min Song arranges space outside the box, left of centre, and dinks a curling cross for Amalfitano, who nudges a header goalwards. Courtois, further off his line that you’d expect, isn’t getting near it, either, relieved to see it drift wide. 2.29pm GMT14:29 86 min Off goes Willian - he’s been very good today, and not just as a result of clever running that opens the spaces for others, but with the ball - and on comes Ramires. 2.28pm GMT14:28 84 min If West Ham happened to score now, it could mean an unpleasant few minutes for Chelsea, and a quick free-kick sets Valencia clear of Ivanovic. He then tumps a cross past the back post, from whence it’s retrieved by Amalfitano. The ball goes back in the box, there’s a moment of concern, and then nothing happens. 2.25pm GMT14:25 83 min Double-change for Chelsea: off go Os-car and Cos-ta, on come Drog-ba and Mi-kel. Updated at 2.28pm GMT 2.25pm GMT14:25 82 min And there’s Hazard, dancing inside and out Jenkinson, leaving him on his back, then shooting low and hard, only for his effort to be blocked. 2.24pm GMT14:24 81 min A lull in what has been a furious pace set by Chelsea. 2.22pm GMT14:22 79 min West Ham have a shot! Amalfitano loiters on the right, and when the ball arrives, it’s underhit - but gives him the angle to come inside, which he does. Passing Ivanovic, he also wanders by a tame effort from Fabregas, finding Song on the corner of the box. He shifts outside to make an angle, then slices high and wide. Updated at 2.57pm GMT 2.20pm GMT14:20 77 min Talking of whom, I’d expect to see perhaps Matic, Hazard and Costa, taken off shortly. Chelsea play Southampton on Sunday, bound to be a physical game, and Mourinho makes as few changes as possible through the season. 2.19pm GMT14:19 76 min Mourinho is stood, foot on footrest, elbow on knee, espousing and expounding. As well he might. 2.18pm GMT14:18 76 min I can’t think off too many better performances I’ve seen so far this season. Spurs’ at home to Everton sticks out, but this is a proper kicking administered to a decent, tough, and in-form team. 2.16pm GMT14:16 74 min Downing, who’s been entirely unable to interfere in proceedings, is replaced by Amalfitano. Updated at 2.17pm GMT 2.16pm GMT14:16 72 min West Ham can’t seem to get into Chelsea quickly enough when they’re in dangerous areas - even “in and around the box”, they have so much time. And Costa picks up the ball moving from centre to left, checks, turns, and plays a nutmeg pass for Oscar. Racing onto it, he canes a shot goalwards, that’s only diverted clear by a brilliant block from Reid. Updated at 2.31pm GMT 2.13pm GMT14:13 70 min Willian, again in the centre, flicks through a pass for Costa, who’s given offside but was not. It’s been a fair old while since West Ham mustered an attack. Updated at 2.18pm GMT 2.12pm GMT14:12 69 min Oooh this is lovely again, Hazard picking out Fabregas with another of those walloped short passes. He beetles straight for the box and nips inside Collins, making the angle for a shot, zetzed with the instep, which curls just wide of the far post. 2.11pm GMT14:11 67 min Someone is fouled by someone - apologies and all - just outside the West Ham box, right of centre. This time, Oscar wins the debate, and his efforts is the best yet, hissing and spitting over the wall and forcing Adrian to hurl right and tip over. Then, from the corner, Matic is very close to tapping in after Cahill knocks down. Updated at 2.11pm GMT 2.09pm GMT14:09 65 min Oh, this is wonderful from Chelsea, and almost wonderfuller. Hazard spanks a crossfielder to Ivanovic, who spanks a crossfield cross over the head of Collins and onto the laces of Costa at the back post. But he doesn’t quite arrange his step, and bumbles over the bar. Useless. 2.08pm GMT14:08 64 min “My family didn’t like it if anyone held onto their cards and went for Kalooki,” says Mac Millings, “but I think it was mostly because they disdained naive game-play. If you hold on, you risk being caught with a lot of cards at the end, and totting up a lot of penalty points.” Yes, but it was also the best way of winning kalooki matches, which as we know is the business we’re in: that of winning kalooki matches. 2.04pm GMT14:04 WHAT A GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 West Ham (Costa, 62) The man is an expert. Kouyate runs into Ivanovic on halfway, left of centre, and Hazard picks up the loose ball, wasting not a second in smacking into Costa. Taking a touch, he zones inside, then, as Jenkinson and Collins come to tackle and cover respectively, turns outside both and clouts a low finish into the far corner with the pair of them, and Reid, frozen in line like one o’clock half-struck. Difficult finish, made to look exceedingly undifficult, difficult-1. Updated at 2.11pm GMT 2.03pm GMT14:03 61 min So that’s West Ham back to the diamond, then. Imagine the headlines if they win! 2.02pm GMT14:02 59 min Two changes for Westairmfrewnfrew: Carroll and Noble off, Sakho and Song on. 2.01pm GMT14:01 57 min Oh dear; Hazard isolates Reid and draws him out, running from centre to left. With devastating ease, he knocks the ball around him and begins his circumnavigation, earning a rap on the ankles for his effrontery. Reid is booked, and the free-kick is curled towards Costa in the middle. He can’t quite reach it, but would’ve been offside in any event. Updated at 2.10pm GMT 2.00pm GMT14:00 56 min “With all due respect to corpulent Sam’s footballing nous,” emails Ian Copestake, “is this the first time he has been guilty of overthinking his approach? Why change a winning formation? I think he has been up till 4am in his kitchen moving spoons around on the table.” Harsh, I think - Allardyce is a good and interesting thinker about the game - he was excellent on Soccer AM last Sunday. Today, I think he’s appreciated how good Chelsea are, and that he’s more likely to win points in and dominate other upcoming games, as well as running into a good team on a good day. 1.58pm GMT13:58 54 min Another low, hard ball into Costa - he’s been brilliant as a focal point today, controlling, holding up, and offloading quickly and cleverly. Again, he nips one off to Hazard as Reid follows him out, who, while he’s there, administers a foul. There’s another queue for the ball, and this time Willian wins, flighting a free-kick over the top. Updated at 2.07pm GMT 1.57pm GMT13:57 52 min A further warning for Chelsea, Downing stretching down the right and crossing, where it’s two-on-two. Terry can’t quite get a touch, hassled by Valencia, but Ivanovic can, diverting back towards his own goal, but without sufficient venom to trouble Courtois. And a crucial touch it was too, because otherwise, Carroll was in. 1.55pm GMT13:55 52 min Willian is minding his own business, mooching through the centre of the West Ham defence with nary a care in the world. He switches play left, and Hazard convulses inside, the flings his body into a shot that again, Adrian does well to beat away far enough to avoid the onrushers. 1.53pm GMT13:53 50 min “We used to play Kalooki round my Grandma’s, and mighty competitive it was, too,” writes Mac Millings. “As young’uns, we would hover around the playing table, desperately wanting in. ‘No. You’re too slow.’ When you were finally deemed old enough, in you’d hop, only to be booted without ceremony seconds later for lack of proficiency. A hard lesson, but it had me well prepared for the many romantic rejections of later years.” Something I never got about kalooki - why doesn’t everyone just hang onto their cards, and go for kalooki? Or is it “not in the spirit of the game”? 1.52pm GMT13:52 48 min And West Ham force another corner, again from the left, Noble drilling towards the back post and over Carroll, for Collins. He’s got a run, but the man marking him - Ivanovic, I think - stands tall enough to prevent a clean contact, and danger is averted. Updated at 2.08pm GMT 1.50pm GMT13:50 46 min Immediately better from West Ham, Valencia - their biggest threat so far, and also taller than Danny DeVito - finding space around Ivanovic. His cross is knocked behind, and then Courtois flies out for the corner, getting naewhere near. The ball drops agonisingly, literally crying out in pain, and bounces just behind the retreating Carroll. 1.48pm GMT13:48 46 min And here we go once more. 1.48pm GMT13:48 Half-time email with JR: “Bit of a catch-22 here. My back is out, which pretty much sucks, and it is causing me to be rooted to the sofa. On the plus side you’d have to admit this is an ideal day to be rooted to a sofa. On the minus side I’m fairly certain the genesis of my back woes stem from lying on the sofa watching football. Also, this game is the perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite phrases, “Like a duck on a junebug’, as in “Chelsea are all over the Hammers like a duck on a junebug.’ What a beatdown.” I reckon we can improve on that: like a species on an unsubstantiated Twitter rumour. 1.42pm GMT13:42 And yet, it’s only 1-0. It’s far from guaranteed that Chelsea will rediscover such rare cohesion, and it’s also profoundly possible that West Ham will made suitable adjustments. Updated at 1.46pm GMT 1.38pm GMT13:38 Barry Glendenning has just drawn my attention and an excellent likeness it is too to a lovely photo of John Terry celebrating in front of the away fans - it’s at minute 34. So I’m drawing your attention to it. Updated at 1.38pm GMT 1.33pm GMT13:33 Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 West Ham Chelsea have been, are formidable; far too much for West Ham to handle. They win the ball so high up the pitch, and get so many men forward, which helps, but, in particular, what is superb is the interplay that you only get from supreme confidence, imagination, skill - and a lot of practice. Updated at 1.35pm GMT 1.33pm GMT13:33 45+1 min Fabregas carries the ball to the edge of the box and flicks with the outside of his right foot to Ivanovic. Pursued by Carroll, who blatantly glanced at him and imparted the hair of his forearms too, he collapses, which elicits much ire, which elicits much ire. The pair are sadly separated, and the referee gives them a talking-to. 1.31pm GMT13:31 45 min There shall be a single additional minute. Result for West Ham. 1.31pm GMT13:31 44 min “I’m making some preparations for my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary in the spring,” reckons Ian Copestake, “and wondered if your other reader (or Gary Naylor) knew of any ‘classy’ establishments in the Wirral area (perhaps not the Grafton) that still do tea dances. Is how they met you see.” Tea dances, do those still happen? Kalooki afterparty, I trust. 1.30pm GMT13:30 42 min Wonderful, dizzying stuff from Chelsea, Hazard moseying infield and ramming a low, hard one into Costa. It comes straight back, and he with everyone expecting a shot or somesuch, he slides one out to the right and into the path of Ivanovic - who, rather than cross aimlessly, picks a cut back to Costa, peeling away to shoot over the top. Brilliant, brilliant football. Updated at 1.41pm GMT 1.27pm GMT13:27 40 min Fabregas hammers a low pass into Hazard, who steps away and leaves for Costa, who sends wide to Willian. He overruns in the end, but the effect remains the same. West Ham don’t know what day it is, whether they’re coming or going, nor the capital of Niger. Updated at 1.27pm GMT 1.25pm GMT13:25 38 min Matic, Oscar, Hazard and Costa have been delightful today - their one-touch interplay around the edge of the box is hard even to follow, let alone obstruct. And there’s more of it, Costa and Oscar nipping in the passes right of centre, til eventually they run out of position. Then, Costa, who is superb at taking possession on the half-turn, weaves free of two challenges and shoots across Adrian from just outside the box, left side. It clips the heels of Collins, though, which allows Adrian to plunge left and save. 1.22pm GMT13:22 37 min And breathe. “David Pleat just called Kouyate, “Cayote”, informs Stuart Graves. He’s very wily, he no doubt added. 1.21pm GMT13:21 34 min Matic finds space outside the West Ham box and spanks a low shot goalwards. It’s going in, as well - Adrian does really well to shovel it away as it skips off the turf. Updated at 1.32pm GMT 1.20pm GMT13:20 34 min Valencia is impeded doing his dash, but with no free-kick given, Cresswell is irated, and slides hard into Oscar - who wears it well. Cresswell is booked. Updated at 1.28pm GMT 1.19pm GMT13:19 GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 West Ham (Terry, 32) And there it is - a brilliant header from Diego Costa, peeling away from the near post to level with it, deeper in the box. He contorts his head into a flick, and at the back stick, Terry rams it home before Matic can do the same. Updated at 1.26pm GMT 1.18pm GMT13:18 31 min Superb from Hazard, conducting a one-touch move around the edge of the West ham box, double one-twos, first with Willian out on the right, then with Oscar right in the heart of the box. Between them, Cresswell and Collins insert a foot, and it’s a corner. Updated at 1.40pm GMT 1.18pm GMT13:18 30 min Willian pounces on a loose ball in the centre-circle and sends it left. Costa shoots hard, but too close to Adrian, who pounds it away, hard enough to beat the onrushers. 1.16pm GMT13:16 29 min Costa breaks past Collins at inside-left, who does brilliantly to slide in from behind, and insert his near leg into the ball. But it looks like a foul, so he’s booked - but Fabregas lumps the free-kick into Adrian’s arms. Updated at 1.27pm GMT 1.15pm GMT13:15 28 min Kouyate runs into the back of oscar for no reason, conceding a free-kick on the right corner of the box. Oscar goes for it, attempting the below, but sees it fly just wide and just high. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjkjoky4Hac 1.12pm GMT13:12 26 min “The only use of “classy” should be in relation to dames,” reckons Ian Copestake. Not sure that’s a Chandler-kind of word - he’d more likely say “whose face lit the fire of a thousand October suns.” Updated at 1.13pm GMT 1.10pm GMT13:10 24 min Hazard performs Riverdance to escape two men, before eventually being blocked off. But Chelsea keep going and refind him - he runs at Jenkinson, who eases him into the grass without even thinking about thinking about playing the ball. No penalty. 1.09pm GMT13:09 23 min Valencia picks up a loose ball and scoots away up the pitch - he’s basically the equivalent of kicking for touch, the way this game is going. 1.08pm GMT13:08 23 min Nemanja Matic is really excellent. More news as I get it. Updated at 1.11pm GMT 1.08pm GMT13:08 20 min Chelsea start passing again, Azpilicueta playing a stray pass that he’s lucky to see fund a blue shirt. Then, a ball picked over the top for Hazard, and Collins catches up to concede a corner on the left. The initial delivery isn’t great, but then Cahill finds himself in space, inside the box on the left, and Fabregas, making his wat into it after taking the corner, slides him a pass. And he fairly panels a shot, that Adrian does incredibly well to beat away from just inside the angle on his near post. Updated at 1.11pm GMT 1.05pm GMT13:05 19 min But here’s a break, the ball moving through Downing and Valencia with serious speed and confidence, earning a corner on the right. It’s wafted towards the near post and cleared, but then, 40 yards out, Noble is clattered. For reasons known best to hisself, Valencia likes the look of the free-kick, so clumps it miles away. Updated at 1.13pm GMT 1.04pm GMT13:04 17 min More threat from Oscar, and then a little bit of possession from West Ham - a very little bit. And, perhaps, they’re finding their method a little problematic. Whether on the break, playing long or short, they do things quickly, and at the moment, they could use some aimless possession - it’s currently 70-30 in Chelsea’s favour. 1.01pm GMT13:01 15 min A little touch from Carroll gives Valencia something to chase - he runs out of pitch. And looking again at the Reid tackle, he was a little lucky - after being nutmegged, he dangled his body in Hazard’s path, right on the edge of the box, and got naewhere near the ball. 1.00pm GMT13:00 14 min Hazard wanders infield, and Reid does exceptionally well to upend him in fair manner. Chelsea are going to score soon, if West Ham don’t adjust, improve or both. Updated at 1.02pm GMT 12.59pm GMT12:59 12 min Carroll paces over towards Ivanovic and powerslides to block his clearance. His studs are semi-showing, so the foul is given - harshly, causing consternation. I’d like to hear Ross Barkley say that. Updated at 12.59pm GMT 12.58pm GMT12:58 11 min “’West Ham have forsaken their diamond,’” quotes Gary Naylor on Twitter. “In this season above all others, I thought they were all er... diamond geezers...” Some are fugazi geezers. 12.56pm GMT12:56 9min Noble barges through Oscar, ceding a free-kick 35 yards out, right of centre - too far right to be shooting distance. Fabregas clips in quickly, wastefully, but the referee brings it back, and he does the same. But West Ham don’t clear, and eventually find Willian on the right, who teases pleasantly before knocking back for Terry, on the edge of the box. He immediately flips a first time pass for Cahill, at the back post and with a run on Jenkinson - he heads over. 12.54pm GMT12:54 8 min West Ham are yet to get going here. They need to get going. Updated at 1.00pm GMT 12.53pm GMT12:53 6 min “Nice to see Gianfranco Zola appointed as Cagliari’s new manager!” exclakims Mike MacKenzie. “I don’t like Chelsea much but he was the classiest person ever associated with them.” Classy is a tricky term, one associated with football more than perhaps it should. But yep, Zola certainly seems to be a very nice man. 12.51pm GMT12:51 4 min Dearie several things. Willian ponders, outside the West Ham box, right of centre, and moves clear of Noble. Espying Oscar, he chips towards the back post, and Jenkinson lets it by; verily, he has not. Suddenly in on goal and perhaps six yards away, he must score, except he shmices it over the bar. Updated at 12.52pm GMT 12.49pm GMT12:49 3 min To clear up any potential misunderstanding, Jack Wilshere is not an extension of the ball that’s not really an extension of Eden Hazard’s boot. Hazard is now back on. Updated at 12.51pm GMT 12.48pm GMT12:48 3 min Hazard, who looks incredible in possession - like the ball’s an extension of his boot, Jack Wilshere, too - weaves clear of Downing, and then runs into Kouyate, taking a knuck on the hip. He’s down, and limps off to the side. 12.47pm GMT12:47 1 min There’s a handy noise inside Stamford Bridge as well - word is that they’re thinking about setting up a singing section in the Shed. Perhaps they should just make it affordable, and let some kids afford to come. 12.46pm GMT12:46 1 min West Ham get us away. Techno, techno, techno, techno. 12.45pm GMT12:45 There’ll now a minute’s applause for the First World War ceasefire game. 12.43pm GMT12:43 It seems that West Ham have forsaken their diamond, and will in fact be trotting around in 4-3-3 formation. 12.43pm GMT12:43 Both James Collins and Winston Reid would be outside picks if there were a Royal Rumble - or knockout tournament - to determine the Premier League’s hardest footballer. 12.41pm GMT12:41 The ball is deplinthed! Chelsea are tracksuited! 12.40pm GMT12:40 “With so many games coming up, how important is it that you get off on the right start?” Geoff Shreeves with questions so penetrating as to almost be invasive. 12.39pm GMT12:39 After getting out tacticked last time by the intellectual refinement of West Ham’s parallel parking, Jose Mourinho has tried a novel approach to arranging the game that best suits him, telling West Ham how good they now are. Clever, clever. Jamie Redknapp is onto him. Updated at 12.41pm GMT 12.36pm GMT12:36 So, how do West Ham win today? Perhaps Downing can cause some mither “in and around” Matic and Fabregas, both of whom are ticklish lack a bit of pace. Otherwise, they’ll be relying on long balls and breaks, you’d expect. Updated at 12.42pm GMT 12.33pm GMT12:33 Here’s the last time West Ham won at Chelsea - inspired by Paolo Di Canio. 12.32pm GMT12:32 “I’m expecting a big battle between Carroll and JT and Cahill,” begins John McEnerney. “He should be a handful for them even though both of them are playing well. Big Sam will have his boys thinking ‘have no fear of this lot’ but thinking and doing are two different things this Mou side is one of his best sides around and even Real Madrid amd Bayern would fear them. Home win with a scare along the way for The Blue Mou Machine.” Yeah, I’d also expect Chelsea to win - perhaps with more to spare than you, given the absence of Song. Updated at 12.35pm GMT 12.25pm GMT12:25 Here’s that 4-0 at Stamford Bridge game, with a wondrously muddy pitch - George Parris is wearing half of it - and the usual car park behind the goal. 12.20pm GMT12:20 So, Chelsea drop Fabregas back alongside Matic, and leave out Mikel. I wonder, though, if in time, he’ll play where Oscar is - Oscar is a better tackler, Fabregas a better creator and finisher. Otherwise, they’re unchanged - Hazard has passed a fitness test. West Ham, meanwhile, are without Tomkins - Collins, who replaced him last weekend continues - and rest Alex Song, whose place at the base, that’s the case, in your face! goes to Mark Noble. Up front, Valencia comes in for Sakho, a swap of which we’ll probably see plenty. Updated at 12.33pm GMT 12.04pm GMT12:04 Teams, then. Chelsea (4-Matic,Fabregas-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa. Subs: Cech (GK), Filipe Luis, Zouma, Mikel, Ramires, Schurrle, Drogba. West Ham (4-Diamond-2): Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Reid, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate Nolan (c), Downing; Carroll, Valencia. Subs: Jaaskelainen (GK), O’Brien, Song, Amalfitano, Jarvis, Cole, Sakho. Referee: The Michael Oliver Updated at 12.24pm GMT 11.45am GMT11:45 Preamble In parts of the foreign country known as Europe, they’re very exotic; they dress nicely, they eat nice food, they advocate enjoyment of life. And they also have winter champions, the title given to whichever team is top at the Christmas break; it means the cubed root of zero times infinity. As you’d expect and demand, in England, we’re much more reserved and circumspect, dealing in the intangible hypothetical of hype. So, a decent start to the season, and suddenly Chelsea were hearing me certain title-winners, in the conversation when discussing the best teams we’ve ever seen, and ready to enjoy the nebulous achievement of an unbeaten league season. This despite the fact that Manchester City have more than enough firepower and experience to lead them over 38 games, and the almost-paradox that every other team is both distinctly beatable and distinctly loseable to. So, Chelsea draw at Sunderland and lose at Newcastle just around the time City happened upon some momentum, and oh! Look! It might just be close after all. Who could have guessed? Which isn’t to say that Chelsea aren’t good; of course they are. But, beyond that, no one knows. The best side they’ve beaten so far this season is, er, Arsenal, Fabregas and Matic - the players who play every week - may tire, and sometimes stuff just changes through the season. See 1985-86, 1988-89, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1997-98, 2002-03, 2010-11, 2011-12 - for example. Profoundly involved in the first of those was none other than your main man, West Ham United. Manchester United won their first ten games, were ten points clear at Christmas, and then collapsed along with Bryan Robson’s shoulder in a defeat at the Boleyn. Typically, West Ham then lost their next two games, but then atypically annihilated Chelsea 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in a statement performance, the second of 11 wins from 13 games. But, embedded with that run was a defeat in the return, in the end, the fatal hit to their title hopes - it ended up on Merseyside, obviously. And now, West Ham reside in their best Christmas position since those halcyon, “halcyon”, days. Of course, they’re not going to win the league - but then they weren’t going to then, either. The mythical notion that anyone could win the league in the pre-Sky era actually meant that clubs like West Ham, QPR and Watford could sustain a challenge - before succumbing to Liverpool. World that we live in, QB baby, as noted football commentator Nas would say. This season, though, West Ham aren’t going to compete with the teams at the top, but, if they can sustain their form, they certainly have a chance of finishing in the top four, which would give them the best chance of hanging onto their best players, and after that, who knows? They could just westham it all up simply by virtue of being West Ham, but that doesn’t look especially likely; they have strength, skill, nous, and, most importantly, variety. Even if teams are more wary of them now, they’re still not easy to stop. This should be a belter. Kick-off: 12.45pm Updated at 11.47am GMT |