United and City clash an opportunity for Chelsea
Chelsea must beat West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday to capitalise on points dropped by rivals in Sunday’s Manchester derby, defender Cesar Azpilicueta said. Chelsea, who are 11 points behind leaders Manchester City, could go level with secondplaced Manchester United with a win at West Ham’s London Stadium .
“The two (Manchester) teams can’t both take three points, so every time you get an opportunity to get close, you have to take it,” Azpilicueta said.
“We have to be intelligent to look at ourselves and then we’ll see how the opponents will react.”
After a sloppy start to the season, Antonio Conte’s Chelsea have collected six wins in last seven league games, with their only dropped points coming against Liverpool in a 1-1 draw. Next six games look a good chance for Chelsea to collect points haul as they face opponents outside the top six
West Ham are second from bottom and have not won in their last eight league games.
“We have to go game by game in this busy period in December - every three days you are fighting for a big three points. We have to look at ourselves,”
LONDON:
Burnley v Watford
Crystal Palace v Bournemouth Huddersfield v Brighton Swansea v West Brom Tottenham v Stoke
Newcastle v Leicester
Azpilicueta added.
“We will then see where we are in the final weeks of the season, where we could fight for it.”
POCHETTINO LOOKS FOR UP TURN IN FORM
Mauricio Pochettino will hope Tottenham Hotspur’s success in Champions League will fire up a faltering Premier League campaign. The 3-0 victory over Apoel Nicosia on Wednesday ensured Pochettino’s side finished three points clear of Real Madrid.
By contrast, their efforts to improve on their title challenges of the last two seasons have stalled and Spurs welcome Stoke City to Wembley on Saturday searching for their first win in five. They head into the weekend in sixth place, 18 points behind Manchester City with main focus now on closing the four point gap to fourth place.
LONDON: