London Stadium view from inside
To the London Stadium! Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images
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Enzo Marseca’s not in immediate danger of the sack, one wouldn’t have thought. He’s just won the Club World Cup and Conference League, for goodness sake. But he is working for trigger-happy Chelsea, and his team were thoroughly unconvincing at home against Crystal Palace last weekend. So expect noises off to be turned on should the cold start to their title challenge continue this evening. It’s the nature of the beast.
But there are straws to grab. West Ham might have finished last season poorly, but they nevertheless snagged big wins against Arsenal and Manchester United, and were the better team against champions-elect Liverpool. Chelsea meanwhile, to belabour the point, have just won the Club World Cup and Conference League. Oh, and they started sluggishly at home last season as well, before rebounding with a 6-2 away win in their second match. Eh, and they won this fixture 3-0 last year, and are currently on a three-match winning run against the Hammers to the cumulative score of 10-1. So they’re favourites to prevail here tonight, all told. Still, football is football, so let’s see if that’s right. Kick-off is at 8pm UK time. It’s on!