Sunday, 17 March 2013

Chelsea V West Ham

             West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is hoping to achieve a Barclays Premier League double over European champions Chelsea and believes the Blues' supporters could actually help his side to victory at Stamford Bridge.I think Chelsea's team has suffered at Stamford Bridge because the fans have not been fully supportive of what has happened. That is nothing to do with Rafa, he can't help that.He is a manager trying to do a job the best he possibly can and he's obviously got a great CV at the jobs he has done at his other clubs.But it shows the importance of a volatile fan base that turned the other way, what effect it can have on a team.It would be an absolutely unbelievable result for us to win at Stamford Bridge and do the double over Chelsea in the same season. It's one of those things that happens rarely, for you to be able to beat a top side home and away.It's a great incentive for the lads to go out there and achieve that on Sunday.Allardyce will be without captain Kevin Nolan after he suffered a broken toe in the home defeat to Tottenham last month, with Mark Noble (arm) also absent and Joe Cole (hamstring) a major doubt to face his old club.The business end of the season then begins in earnest for Rafael Benitez's side, with six games in 16 days, including the FA Cup quarter-final replay with Manchester United, the Europa League last-eight tie with Russia's Rubin Kazan and three Premier League fixtures culminating in a London derby with top-four rivals Tottenham.Luiz is unfazed by the forthcoming calendar and merely happy to be in competitive action, rather than toiling away on the training pitch.Personally for me it is amazing," the Brazil defender said. "I like to play games. I don't like to train, it's boring sometimes. love to play games, so if I had to play every day I would want to. You need to rest sometimes but I prefer to play games than training, for sure.The atmosphere at Chelsea home games has been hostile since former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez replaced Roberto Di Matteo as interim manager until the end of the current season.The Hammers inflicted a 3-1 defeat on Chelsea just three games into Benitez's tenure when the fans' wrath was still at its strongest."In the reverse of that we all know the extra man that fans can create. You see the opposite of that at Chelsea and certainly in the early stages when Rafa took over and Chelsea suffered some poor results because of that. That's the effect the fans have on the team that plays on the field.

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