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Will Early Kick Off Against Chelsea Help Or Hinder Hammers?

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Fri, 21/09/2018 - 23:48

Much has been made of Chelsea's disrupted travel plans following their victory in Greece in the europa League cup, they were scheduled to fly out on Thursday night but were unable to leave due to bad weather until Friday lunchtime, however main men Eden Hazard and David Luiz had stayed back in England in order to be 'rested' ahead of the forthcoming live on Sky match against West Ham at The London Stadium on Sunday.

The fact that the game will be played barely 60 hours after their europa cup match would seem to put Chelsea at a disadvantage and their manager has mae much mention of it in his pre-match comments, however Chelsea are top of the pile with five wins out of five and have a squad that is well capable of 'filling in' for tired players as and when required.

The 'early doors' 1:30 PM kick off, while giving the visitors very little recovery time from their European endeavours, is not an ideal one for the home side as historically Hammers best performances against London rivals have been under the lights when for fleeting moments the 'Ironic' London Stadium has resembled the much beloved but now consigned to the memories Boleyn Ground.

Will the game being televised as well as the match being an early kick off effect the atmosphere? Probably Yes, a good many people, mindful of the possibility of seeing their team get 'tonked' allied to the horrendous weather conditions forecast for the afternoon, may well elect to view the proceedings in the warmth and comfoert of their homes and pretend to charge themselves ridiculous amounts of money for a packet of crisps or a pint!

Unfortunately given how dire most fans experiences have been of the london Stadium, whether they have been the poor performances on show or how sterile the venue itself is, it is going to take a while before the atmosphere can become intimidating for the opposition on a regular basis. Success breeds success and their is nothing that engenders that feeling more than winning, victory against bogey team Everton last weekend was a start, but it was only just the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end. - Ed

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hammergirl's picture

thats who could well hinder both sides this maverick ref loves a controversial decision but as for the kick off time I think it is irrelevant as players are used to all to all these different times nowadays.Last season we beat them in a lunchtime game so it why would kicking off again be any different for either side.

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125 users have voted.
metbobby1's picture

about Mike Dean. He’s the most supercilious of referees and you always get the sense of him just WAITING for a chance to influence the game in one way or another.

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57 users have voted.

The opposing side have had a game a couple of days beforehand,they must be tired?Makes no difference at all imo,the chavs have won 5 out of 5 up to date,have rested star players...we are going to have to play like we did last week to have any chance & lets hope the new place can muster some sort of atmosphere

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112 users have voted.
moore 6 legend's picture

Just hope arnie is fit and starts, and not from the bench,we need that same team that worked,on form hazard is the one that worries me.

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114 users have voted.
plaistow-man's picture

Well getting excuses in early is nothing new, we win they are tired , they win it will made out that they have great resilience ! I remember many moons since I went to watch a game in Glasgow (mate had tkts) travelled on the overnight train and went straight to work (no sleep) on our building site! (Don't get me wrong when I got home that evening after a days graft I had a shower lay down on the couch and crashed out.

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60 users have voted.
La Vida Hammer's picture

If they can't play 2 games a week, they should not be there. Regarding Arnie, if in any doubt, they should not play him, not much chance of winning this, with or without him, keep him fit for games we should win. IMO

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122 users have voted.

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