The Chelsea Blues and West Ham United Hammers are playing live on the Barclays English Premier League match schedule on Friday on NBC Sports Network and streaming from the NBCSN Live Extra website and the game is from Stamford Bridge for the day after Christmas matches on Boxing Day and Jose Mourinho has his club ready for the EPL battle starting at 7:45 am ET 12:45 pm local time on TV.
Chelsea comes into the day at first on the EPL table over Manchester City after winning last week and they have been the most impressive team overall this season. The Blues lost for the first time a few games ago and they still have only one loss on the Premier League schedule this season. Chelsea has been the highest scoring team this season and they will next play against Southampton on the road after this matchup against West Ham in London.
Chelsea may be down a bit with midfielder Eden Hazard likely out for the game after dealing with an ankle injury and that could put Oscar into the starting lineup. Mourinho has done a good job with his lineups this season and he has been getting strong play from both Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa. West Ham will have midfielder Mark Noble back and Sam Allardyce said he has his team ready for the tough challenge on the holiday.
West Ham is in fourth position at Christmas time and that is a strong development for Allardyce and now he is hoping to bring that into 2015. West Ham got a point against Chelsea last season and the team had a strong run after that to get out of relegation. Chelsea comes in after a win against Stoke and that helped keep the team ahead of Man City, who has also been playing very well. Manchester United is in third on the table ahead of West Ham and Chelsea will be heavily favored in the matchup at home.
Chelsea has not lost at home yet this season and they have also won nine straight games on Boxing Day, another notch in their favor. Chelsea is the top team in the EPL and they are expected to remain there heading into the next stretch of the season. Costa has played well in front of his home fans, scoring eight times in his seven games at Stamford Bridge in EPL play. The Hammers come in having lost just once in their last five Premier League games and they have not been this high on Dec. 25 for decades. Chelsea and West Ham have not met on Boxing Day in many years and the Hammers come in not having been held without a goal in their last eight away games on the EPL schedule.
Check here for the Chelsea Blues and West Ham live coverage.
