Preview: West Ham v Chelsea

By John Hill on December 18, 2009 4:11 PM |

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If West Ham can get to the end of 2009 without another vicious drubbing, they'll probably be feeling fairly festive.

The club has endured a rotten December, with losses to Man United, Birmingham and Bolton, the retirement of Dean Ashton and the absence of Carlton Cole until January.

So will they lock the gates, switch off the lights and pretend to be down the shops when league-leaders Chelsea arrive at Upton Park?

Considering their form of late, this is one of the better times to be facing the West London side. They didn't look airtight in the draw with Everton and the win against Portsmouth was hardly convincing. But this is the side that pushed aside Arsenal like a poor plate of restaurant spaghetti, and West Ham have nowhere near as much confidence as Arsene Wenger's side right now.

What's worse, Didier Drogba is expected to return from the injury that kept him out in midweek.

So what's the upside for the Premier League's second-bottom side? Well, Matthew Upson is back, as is Luis Jimenez. And manager Gianfranco Zola will be out to impress his old Parma boss with a dedicated shift from his Hammers side.

Ricardo Carvalho and Joe Cole could be included in Carlo Ancelotti's line-up, but Michael Essien is still out for the visitors.

Kick off is 4pm on Sunday

Prediction: It's not beyond West Ham to spring a shock. But without a threatening striker, keeper Rob Green may spend most of the day trying to fend off waves of Chelsea attacks. 0-3