Chelsea 3 (1) v West Ham United 0 (0)
10 Silva, assist Mount, 78 Abraham, assist Werner, 80 Abraham.
Played at Stamford Bridge on Monday 21 December 2020.
The evening of the shortest day, on which some may have seen the “Star of Bethlehem” being the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky, brought Chelsea 3 welcome pre-Christmas points. It pushed the Blues back up the F.A. Premier League (FAPL) table to 5th in a group of 5 Clubs with 24-27 points. It was a routine win starting with Thiago Silva (what a bargain he is) heading powerfully home Mason Mount’s cross and followed by 2 goals from substitute Tammy Abraham in 2 second half minutes. The assist from Timo Werner was more a mishit shot than a pass. West Ham United did not play badly but did not manage a single shot on target. They are now 10th with 21 points.
The next Premier London derbies (PLDs) match will be right in the Festive Season when the PLDs heavyweights Arsenal and Chelsea clash on Boxing Day 26 December 2020 at the Emirates Stadium. In the FAPL their form, confidence and League positions could hardly be different. Not so in the All-Time PLDs table. At the end of the 2018-19 FAPL season their records were identical: played 248, won 127, drawn 67, lost 54, earning 448 points each with win percentage 51.2%. Chelsea topped the PLDs mini-league table that season to put them level with Arsenal and did so again in the protracted 2019-20 FAPL season. That put Chelsea ahead in the All-Time PLDs table with 464 v 458 points gained and an increased win percentage of 51.6% v 50.4%. In the fixture itself at the Emirates the previous scores have been: 3-0 in season 2016-17; 2-2 in 2017-18; 2-0 in 2018-19; and 1-2 season 2019-20. Rather more even than their present FAPL form but we shall see.
Whatever the score “Keep Safe” and “Happy Christmas!”, Andrew at PLDs.