Chelsea vs West Ham: Three things to look out for

Chelsea doesn’t have aerially dominant players anymore, and it’s showing in set pieces. West Ham on the other hand, are very dominant in set piece situations as they are yet to concede a goal from a set piece. West Ham’s Kurt Zouma has contested 18 aerial duels this season and he’s won 16 of them. That means he’s won 3.2 aerials per game and at an 89% win rate. By comparison, Virgil van Dijk who’s an inch taller than the Frenchman, has won 3.6 aerials per game at a 72% win rate. Zouma has the highest aerial success rate of any outfielder in the Premier League amongst players that have contested up to 10 aerial duels. Chelsea doesn’t have anyone who can match Zouma in the air.

The Blues have confirmed the signing of Leicester City’s Wesley Fofana, who is as tall as Zouma, but he’s nowhere near as good in the air. Admittedly, Thiago Silva is has been good in the air this season, at a 64% aerial duels success rate (also 3.2 per game), and has been magnificent in ground duels, winning 2.8 per game at an 82% win rate. However West Ham knows their strengths, and they’d likely try to force the game to be about set pieces, so Chelsea’s best chance is to make sure they don’t put West Ham in a lot of set piece situations. Will Tuchel consider playing his three tallest centerbacks in Trevoh Chalobah (1.9m), Wesley Fofana (1.9m) and Kalidou Koulibaly (1.87m) to try and deal with this game’s inevitable physical and aerial battles?