Chelsea visit West Ham United at the London Stadium this evening, with Antonio Conte’s men looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League.
The Blues go into tonight’s fixture with a seven-point cushion at the summit of England’s top tier. Both Tottenham and Manchester City picked up all three points from their respective fixtures over the weekend, and Chelsea subsequently cannot afford to fall short tonight in order to avoid being dragged into a title-scrap.
There are no surprises in our starting eleven for tonight’s game, with Conte sticking with the structure that has brought us so much success since switching to a back-three. The only talking point is that Cesc Fabregas keeps his place in the midfield, with the Italian opting to field him ahead of Nemanja Matic.
Fabregas was instrumental in our victory over Swansea City last match-week, and thus it would have been nonsensical to leave him out.
Here’s how both sides line up in full for tonight’s game:
West Ham team: Randolph, Kouyate, Fonte, Reid, Cresswell, Noble (c), Obiang, Feghouli, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Carroll. #WHUCHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 6, 2017
Chelsea team v West Ham: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso; Pedro, Diego Costa, Hazard. #WHUCHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 6, 2017
