Chelsea key clashes against West Ham: Friends become foes in the midfield

2. Mason Mount vs. Declan Rice

Friends become foes; as lifelong partners in crime Declan Rice and Mason Mount will be pitted against one another for the second time competitively since their childhood relationship at Cobham.

It was the former who came out on top on the initial meeting, and any love between the two will have to be removed until the final whistle if Mount is to gain his own back. Rice has been one of the few figures of promise in an ultimately disappointing season for the Hammers, earning him a call up to the England national set-up and a potential starter at next summer’s European Championships.

Best friends do everything together, as Mount also made his mark with the Three Lions, but has enjoyed a much finer domestic campaign with Chelsea. His role going forward has been a lot more straightforward than Rice’s job of protecting his back-four, even asked to drop in as a replacement centreback.

Moyes will most likely deploy the 21-year-old in that familiar holding role, whilst Lampard will looks to Mount to pick up spaces in between midfield and attack, hoping to occupy the attention of both Rice and the centre halves to create space for others.

As the key-link in the final third, it will be crucial for Rice to try and unsettle his former academy teammate. However, this task will be made even tougher by the likes of Pulisic, Willian and one of the other midfielders drifting into similar pockets and causing on overload in the final third. Mount will also have mission in denying Rice little chance to collect the ball from his defenders and build from the back, doing so by pressing hard and high. Hopefully they can hug and make up come the final whistle, but for 90 minutes, they have to go to war.