Chelsea will make a short journey this weekend to face London rivals West Ham, and one Blues player should definitely be in line for his first start of the season.
Chelsea play away at West Ham this Saturday afternoon in the Premier League, which has been a difficult fixture for them in recent times. In fact, the Blues have one draw and two defeats from their last three trips to the London Stadium.
Enzo Maresca should be content with collecting seven points from his first four league games, but now his side face the tough away fixture against the Hammers. Tosin Adarabioyo has posted a cheeky three-word message before the West Ham clash.
Enzo Maresca should promote Jadon Sancho
Based on Chelsea’s win against Bournemouth last weekend, it’s only right that Jadon Sancho comes straight into the starting line-up for the trip to West Ham.
Sancho, 24, made his Blues debut last Saturday, coming off the bench at half time and assisting the winning goal. Chelsea fans were left raving about Sancho’s debut performance at Bournemouth.
The on-loan Manchester United winger did far more last weekend than teammates such as Pedro Neto or Noni Madueke, so he’s surely put his name right into the mix to play against West Ham. If he does come into the XI, it would be his first start of the season and maiden start in Chelsea colours.
For Maresca, the logic for this campaign is to make his team selection on a game-to-game basis solely off form.
Chelsea have so many quality players in their deep squad, especially in the forward areas, that it’s going to be so hard leaving big names on the bench every week. But if the head coach is picking off form then every individual should know where they stand.
Jadon Sancho looks hungry
Sancho looked like a man on a mission to prove people wrong on his first Chelsea appearance, so now feels like the right time to get him on the pitch while he’s hungry to succeed.
The left-winger certainly injected extra quality going forward with his 45 minutes versus Bournemouth. Hopefully, he’s given the chance to take that momentum into the West Ham trip.
Hammers right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka is one of the best 1v1 defenders in the business, but we think Sancho would love coming up against his former teammate.
Darren Bent called Sancho a “talented player” earlier this month on talkSPORT, but now he needs a regular platform to shine and find consistency. If he’s named on the bench again this weekend, it could send out a negative statement to the player.
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