[ad_1]
Chelsea 3-0 West Ham United
- Goals: Thiago Silva (£ 5.5 million), Tammy Abraham (£ 7.2 million) x2
- Attend: Mason Mount (£ 6.9 million), Timo Werner (£ 9.3 million), Christian Pulisic (£ 8.2 million)
- Cousin: Abraham x3, Thiago x2, Cesar Azpilicueta (£ 5.6m) x1
Frank Lampard is hopeful that the wingers first Ben chilwell (£ 6.2 million) and Reece james (£ 5.3m) are not seriously injured, but expressed doubts that the former is fit to face Arsenal on Boxing Day.
Chilwell didn’t even last 10 minutes of Chelsea’s win over West Ham United on Monday, failed to recover from a sprained ankle and limped off the field of play.
Meanwhile, James did not make the team of the day, and reports emerged over the weekend that the young man was suffering from a knee ailment.
Facing the media after the game, Lampard first said of Chilwell:
I hope you have doubts about Arsenal. He twisted his ankle, tried to move forward, and it hurt too much. We’ll have to do a scan first thing tomorrow morning and try to see how bad the injury is.
We hope their injuries are not so bad and that they are in those two games over Christmas, which is a very tight change, so we’ll see. But he was satisfied with the way the two boys played today.
Hail cease
The “two boys” Lampard referred to were César Azpilicueta (£ 5.6 million) and Emerson Palmieri (£ 4.7 million), which were brought in from the cold for alternates on the side.
Unsurprisingly, by not offering the same threat as James and Chilwell going forward, the pair was solid at the rear as West Ham was limited to just six legitimate goal attempts (match officials ruled out two of the Hammers ) and not a single effort on target.
Edouard mendy (£ 5.2m) has earned a lot of praise for his influence on the Blues’ bottom line, but in reality, they haven’t tested it too much, only posting FPL save points in two of his ten appearances.
Arguably higher debt is due to transformative leadership qualities of Thiago silva (£ 5.5 million), with Kurt zouma (£ 5.8 million) and James looks much better for having an experienced boss alongside them this season.
The Brazilian veteran was pointed out by his head coach after the game:
The defense was great. Thiago Silva was the leader, but Azpilicueta came in and did it brilliantly. As wingers, you have to defend your zone when they cross the ball over and over again. They’re very good at set pieces, so it’s something we’ve worked a lot on in training and staff like Thiago clearly help a lot.
Some of our defense of the area this season has been really good and consistent and that has to hold up, particularly against opponents like we had it tonight.
MOUNT ALEGRÍA
It was Thiago who opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge, with the former PSG stopper climbing high to head home a Mason Mount (£ 6.9 million) corner.
That was the ninth goal Chelsea defenders have scored this season, which is not surprising that it is a league record.
The Blues are also the best in goals from set pieces (nine) in 2020/21.
Assuming control of dead ball duties since his return to the starting eleven at Gameweek 7, Mount, who has taken 34 of the Blues’ past 42 corners, is thriving alongside those defenders.
This was his fourth assist in the last eight Gameweeks, a period of matches in which he has not missed a single minute of football.
WERNER BOTHERS
Tammy abraham (£ 7.2m) made the most of his first outing in four, hitting a brace and getting the most bonus points.
Both goals were from poachers, and the English forward finished off after unconvincing efforts by Timo Werner (£ 9.3 million) and Christian pulisic (£ 8.2 million)
It was the sixth game without a goal for Werner, who blew two other great chances here: his first effort stopped him after Pulisic played it fair, while his second hit the visitors’ crossbar at the end.
Even his attendance was courtesy of a worn-out shot and there is little incentive to acquire or retain his services at FPL today, with a long-awaited break likely to come on Gameweek 15 or 16 given the fast response time and the fact that Hakim Ziyech (£ 8.1 million) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (£ 5.7 million) are back in formation.
Lampard said of his failed German:
I am not worried. All forwards will want to be scoring goals, that’s why they are finally judged and that’s why Timo was a great acquisition for us because of the level of goals he has scored in recent years.
He is a player from a new league and we have to give him time to calm down, but he gets into positions regularly, scares the teams and gives them a problem. He’s not doing well at the moment, but as soon as that changes we’ll surely see goals from Timo Werner.
TAKING THE MICHAIL
A 3-0 loss was probably an unfair reflection for West Ham, given the balance of the game.
It’s hard to escape the fact that Hammers miss Michail antonio (£ 6.2 million), however, with the static Sebastien haller (£ 6.1m) apparently capable of little more than 35-yard screams.
David Moyes’s post-match update didn’t really get us any closer to knowing when Antonio will return, and the West Ham head coach’s comments didn’t sound too optimistic:
Well, I hope we get Micky back soon. If we don’t, then we have to think what else are we going to do, how are we going to do it because I think we only need alternatives or options, we are a bit limited with that.
If not, we have to start looking within my own group to see if I can find another Marko Arnautovic or Micky Antonio, I think that’s what I’m going to try to do.
Of course, West Ham is looking forward to easier trials, starting with Brighton at home this weekend.
Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Silva, Chilwell (Emerson 10); Kante, Jorginho (Kovacic 67), Moun; Werner, Abraham, Pulisic (Havertz 84).
West Ham United XI (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, soucek; Bowen (Fredericks 90), Noble, Fornals (Benrahma 67); Haller.
Lessons Learned from FPL Gameweek 14
Become a member and get unrestricted access to our data and articles
Full-year memberships are now available for the price of £ 19.99. Monthly subscriptions cost only £ 2.99. A FREE trial is now available during December.
Join now to get the following:
- Chart your transfer strategies using the fully interactive Season Ticker.
- Get projections for each Premier League player provided by the Rate My Team statistical model.
- Use Rate My Team throughout the season to guide your selections and transfers.
- Get access to over 150 member-exclusive items throughout the season.
- Take a look at our OPTA-based stat tables designed specifically for Fantasy Football managers.
- Use our exclusive tool to create custom stat tables from over 100 OPTA player and team stats.
- Enjoy our NEW Flat-Track Bully feature that introduces an opposition filter to your tables.
- View heat maps and expected goal data for each player.
- Use our powerful comparison tool to analyze players head-to-head.
ALREADY A USER? CLICK HERE TO UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT FOR FREE
NEW TO SCOUT? CLICK HERE TO START A MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT
