The last time Chelsea welcomed West Brom to Stamford Bridge, the match ended under somewhat controversial circumstances. Were it not for Eden Hazard's late penalty, the Blues would have been looking at a defeat at their home ground. Jose Mourinho will be keen though on beating them this time around, especially as they were unable to earn more than two draws in their meetings last season.
This time around, though, Chelsea are in sparkling form. They sit eight points ahead of last season's champions Manchester City and more important, have yet to lose a game in the league. In Europe's biggest leagues, only a handful--Portuguese powerhouse Porto and Ligue 1 champions PSG are among them--can also lay claim to the same impressive achievement. And more important, they have yet to lose a match at home, something that does not bode well for the visitors.
Meanwhile, West Brom, who barely escaped relegation last season with a 17th-placed finish, are currently in 11th after seeing a string of decent results come to an end as they were defeated by Newcastle United in the last league match before the international break. Alan Irvine, though, while recognising the tough task his troops face, still believes that they nonetheless can cause the current league leaders trouble if they are on top of their game.
"I would probably argue that Chelsea have strengthened a very good squad from last year by adding some exceptionally good players," he stated in a pre-match press conference.
"They are stronger but it doesn't mean we can't get something from there. We have a chance - there is absolutely no question of that - but we will need to play extremely well."
Mourinho will be pleased to welcome star striker Diego Costa back into the fold, but his key assist-maker Cesc Fabregas, despite training with the team will have to be assessed ahead of the fixture. However, compared to other teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal, the Blues have been fairly fortunate with keeping most of their squad healthy.
Nonetheless, Mourinho, while expressing his relief at this, could not help throwing a subtle jab at national teams, with La Furia Roja being one of them he has criticized in recent times.
"There are many factors that contribute to good or bad numbers and many of them are not under your control," he noted via the club's website.
"Many of them are pure luck, or the kind of injuries [that are] impossible to prevent or impossible to recover [from] in record time. There are certain types of injuries that you can do things at a certain level but there are factors that can kill your strategy, especially when players go to national teams when the situation changes because the habits change."
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