Prediction: Chelsea vs West Ham

Premier League leaders Chelsea face a tricky Boxing Day tie against West Ham, a team they failed to beat in the same fixture last season as Jose Mourinho slammed the Hammers for playing “football from the 19th century”. While that was clearly an unfair comment, the Boleyn Ground outfit have since shown incredible improvement and are now in a position to fight for Champions League places.

Chelsea tops the Premier League at Christmas and deservedly so having played some great football along the way and shown plenty of consistency in the first part of the season. However, the Blues cannot afford to relax just yet seeing as they sit mere three points clear of holders Manchester City, and they face three difficult games in the space of just six days. This means that Jose Mourinho will have to change his usual ways and deploy squad rotation, which could prove to be an issue given that the Blues clearly don’t have worthy replacements for their key players. Chances are, however, that the Special One will field a pretty strong side in the local derby against West Ham, which certainly makes the hosts favourites to claim maximum points. The positive approach the Hammers are expected to adopt is expected to make things even easier for Chelsea up front, although their back line could struggle to contain the likes of Carroll, Sakho, Nolan and Downing. The Blues go into the game high on confidence having recorded four wins on the trot, although Eden Hazard’s ankle injury is a definitely cause for concern at the moment.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has done brilliantly to prove Jose Mourinho and all his doubters wrong, taking the Boleyn Ground outfit to unimagined heights this season. Big Sam first puled off some major coups in the summer, luring the likes of Song, Sakho, Valencia and few more quality players to London, before leading his side to some amazing results in the first part of the league campaign. The Hammers in turn climbed to fourth in the overall standings and they did so by playing attractive, attacking brand of football that had been totally uncharacteristic of the former Bolton manager. West Ham have now won four of last five league matches, while sharing spoils with Sunderland on the road and they will be very motivated to frustrate Chelsea one more time, especially after Jose Mourinho’s comments in the aftermath of the previous fixture at Stamford Bridge. Sam Allardyce is likely to be without centre-back James Tomkins as he battles a hamstring injury, but key midfielder Mark Noble should return after almost a month on the sidelines. The manager is unlikely to make major changes to his starting line-up.

Conclusion

Chelsea haven’t exactly been at their best of late, especially at the back, and while they remain the favourites to claim maximum points, I can see red-hot West Ham causing them some problems. Chances are we will see another tight game at Stamford Bridge and I am backing the Hammers to prove their worth in the high-profile encounter.

Verdict: West Ham with +1.5 AH

Best Odds: 23/25

Bookmaker: bet365