Chelsea will look to put the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle behind them as they entertain West Brom at Stamford Bridge later today. The backlash the players received from Jose Mourinho as a result of last week's defeat will no doubt fire them up to get back to winning ways. Ignoring this result the Blues have made a solid start to their league campaign by beating Man City and having 10 different goal scorers already within the Premier League. The major downside to their performance is that they have only managed to keep 3 clean sheets out of the 10 games, conceding goals against the likes of Norwich, Cardiff and of course Newcastle. Surely this has to be a cause for concern.
Steve Clarke - the man Mourinho called "my brother" earlier this week will be hoping for a repeat of Chelsea's poor performance. He will be well aware of the threats possessed, having been a friend of Jose's whilst working with him at Chelsea. The Baggies have made a reasonable start to the season and have only conceded 2 goals more than Chelsea. However their away form leaves a lot to be answered, having only picked up one win on the road - against Manchester United. They played well last week at home to Crystal Palace and with their goal talisman Saido Berahino in talks to secure a new deal and hopefully earn more money each week than the kit man, who knows what kind of performance Clarke's men may pull off.
Team News
Chelsea - Demba Ba or Samuel Eto'o will be given the chance to start upfront as Fernando Torres misses out the game with a thigh problem. Eden Hazard is set to start despite being dropped for their midweek win over Schalke. Other players to miss out through injury include Marco Van Ginkel and Ryan Bertrand.
West Brom - It doesn't look like there will be a Chelsea reunion for Nicolas Anelka or Scott Sinclair who are both doubtful with injuries, Victor Anichebe and Boaz Myhill are also likely to miss out. Other players who remain sidelined include Zoltan Gera, Ben Foster, George Thorne, and Billy Jones.
Prediction
I believe Chelsea will be too strong for the Baggies, Hazard will be looking to make a statement having been dropped and Eto'o seems to be finding the net recently.
Chelsea 2 West Bromwich Albion 1
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