West Ham : Adrian, Jenkinson, Collins, Tomkins, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Zárate, Lanzini, Payet, Sakho. Subs: Randolph, Carroll, E Valencia, Obiang, Ogbonna, Jelavic, Antonio
Chelsea : Begovic, Zouma, Cahill, Terry , Azpilicueta, Matic, Ramires, Willian, Fàbregas, Hazard, Diego, Costa Subs: Baba, Oscar, Falcao, Mikel, Traore, Amelia, Loftus-Cheek
Victor Moses' unavailability to play against his parent club chelsea in this weekend's london derby against west ham, opens the door for Michail Antonio to make his full debut and show Hammers fans why the club shelled out over £7 Million for an as yet unproven winger/striker from second tier team Nottingham Forest. Some might question if Antonio can cope with the non stop relentless pace that is the Barclays Premier League, but nothing in his earlier footballing career suggests that he will not be able to survive and thrive towards the upper echelons of footballing greatness, such is his pedigree, he is a fighter as well as being an artist. West Ham manager Slaven Billic's only injury problem is the continued lack of availability of inspirational centre back Winston Reid because of a hip injury, but his place in the starting line up will be taken by the 'ginger pele' who is Wales international James Collins. Enner Valencia will be champing at the bit to start, but perceived wisdom is that he will be brought on later in the game to try and exploit his pace against an ageing Chelsea defence, so on the bench there could well be Carroll, Valencia, Zarate and Jelovic! Crikey Mikey, it's raining strikers!
Could somone please explain to me why every one of the continental teams supporters have to make that infernal noise, its constent and for me it takes all the enjqoyment from the game, im rooting on manua to score maybe it might shut them up for five minutes
alright guys if anyone got a spare ticket going for watford away please get back to me as i would snap one up im visiting family in watford that weekend so can meet to pay and collect, get back to me and we go from there thankyou
Hello does anybody have any tickets available that they need to sell on before the game Saturday or any in the future please post
Just read an artice that Reece Oxford was blocked from going to the U17 World Cup in Chile as WH thought his development would be better served at the club. This strike anyone else as strange?
Now over the years my interest in the National team has waned considerably what with favourite clubs and players being central to the set up and form merely a four letter word in the dictionary. However with the enhanced depth within the squad at WH and Reece not having featured since the home game with Leicester, would this not have been a great opportunity for him to get some match fitness and increase England's chances of success?
What's behind it?
So the champions up next. And however poorly they have been performing to date this season, we all know what great players they have, players who if they turn it on can win a game by themselves. However, they have a trip to Kiev (Ukraine isn't exactly a holiday destination just now!) on Tuesday, probably not getting back home until early morning on Wednesday. So they'll have only 2 days to prepare for the trip to The Boleyn. Success in Europe is very important (probably more so in Ukraine!) to Abramovic (to please his mate Vladimir), so I expect a strong side to be put out in Kiev. Quite who we will face in the Chelsea team is therefore a bit of a guess. The moaning one is worried about his defence, and dropped Hazard because of it against Villa! I sincerely hope he drops him against us, as he was dynamite last season.
But whoever is in the Chelsea team I expect them to be very wary of our attacking prowess. I wouldn't be surprised to see Valencia and Antonio get a half each replacing Moses. Another possibility is to bring in Obiang, and push Noble forward a bit, also allowing Kouyate a bit more freedom to support the front men. LOTS of options at West Ham these days!
I think Mourinho will actually be quite defensive, and rely on his quality players to sneak a goal or two, so we will need to be patient and take our chances. Don't see much in this game and it could go either way... I just hope Costa gets sent off!! :-) 2-1 to the Appy Ammers!!
I would of said Antonio but Bilic is bedding him in slowly so maybe Valencia? but he would not last the match just coming back from injury so will Bilic change formation or maybe bring the kid samuelson in as a surprise....we have options and for the first time in a long time they are DECENT options not just makeweights so it will be interesting to see what superslav will do
When the BBC do their next fiscal revue, they might want to consider the validity of employing a certain Mark Lawrenson as one of their pundits. For an organisation that has a mission statement claiming complete impartiality, the BBC seem to have not got their own house in order, why else would they employ someone who has such a biased and single minded opinion? Lawrenson's continued attempts at making West Ham United's amazing start to the season look like a flash in the pan are beginning to make him and the organisation that employs him look more and more ridiculous, time for a change, taxi for Lawro?
Sooner or later Slaven Billic and his "happy hammers" will begin to receive the credit that the team's performances, particularly away from home, have more than warranted. Hammers are second highest scorers in the Barclays Premier League, and have the best away record in the entire football league, slightly more than a 'flash in the pan'. Is it the manager, the players or both? Keen observers will have noticed Slaven kissing the ginger Pele as he left the field, would a certain gum chewer from Dudley have done the same? Very doubtful, but the players do respond to the man who seems to know his players very well considering the amount of time they have had together, players also recognise Billic's tactics and seem to accept being substituted for the greater benefit of the team, as Mark Noble did when being replaced by Andy Carroll, a clever precaution in order to prevent the captain picking up a yellow card which would have made him ineligible for the home match against Chelsea next week.
Having a plerophory of strikers on the bench certainly helped West Ham to turn the screw on Crystal Palace after Gayle had been sent off for two yellow cards, maybe Palace were confused by the fact that Manuel Lanzini, Mauro Zarate, Aaron Cresswell and Adrian all have the same haircuts! Perhaps Palace also thought that Dimitri Payet was Lewis Hamilton, he is certainly looking more and more like a World Champion.
How much is Payet worth in the current climate? £15Million, £20 Million, £30 Million? On his current form the sky is the limit, Hammers had better steel themselves for when the 'big boys' come sniffing, but then again aren't the 'big boys' usually in the top four of the Barclays Premier League? - Ed
Man City 9 16 21
Arsenal 9 9 19
Man Utd 9 7 19
West Ham 9 8 17
Leicester 9 2 16
playing classy football and scoring goals with the odd west ham cock up along the way but no more respect the point.....just what were thinking:-)
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Premier League
Sunday 18th May
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