From West London to Eastern Europe to, now, East London, Chelsea go looking for a third successive clean sheet and a second successive Premier League victory at cross-town rivals West Ham United. The Hammers have started rather well, even better than last season when we did the double over them. Doing that again would certainly not go amiss. (It is, in fact, their best ever start to a Premier League season.)
It's not personal — ok, with West Ham it always is — but every game from here on out is a must win. If we are to accomplish anything significant in the league, every game is a must win. So time to continue and build-on on the improved performances of the past week with even better performances.
Did I say it's a must win? Because it is.
Date / Time: Saturday, October 24, 2015, 15:00 BST; 10am EDT; 7:30pm IST
Venue: Upton Park, East London, England
Referee: Jonathan Moss — we won all five of Mr. Moss's matches last season; his last one was our 2-1 win over Stoke City at the Bridge in April.
Forecast: Rain, increasing into the afternoon
On TV: none (UK); NBCSN, NBC Universo (USA); Star Sports 1 / HD (India); elsewhere
Online: BBC (UK radio); NBC Sports Live Extra (USA); Star Sports (India)
West Ham United team news: Alex Song is a long-term injury absentee; Winston Reid is a slightly shorter-term one, but quite a key one nonetheless. Victor Moses is unavailable, seeing as how he's a Chelsea loanee.
Despite all their success, West Ham have won just one of their four matches at home this season, and that was against Newcastle United. For more on our hosts and their charismatic manager Slaven Bilic of Team Mourinho, be sure to check out our opposition analysis.
Chelsea team news: The same four players who missed the midweek trip to Ukraine will be missing in action today. Which leaves plenty of permutations from which Mourinho could choose a starting lineup. He could even opt for the same exact one that played so well (though without scoring a goal) in midweek!
Despite our recently improved play, Chelsea have just one win in five, and we are winless in our last three away matches in all competitions. With everybody expecting the "old" Chelsea back, we have yet to actually prove that we're capable of sustaining that level of performance.
Previously: Other than the 3-1 abomination during the Interim era, Chelsea have not lost to West Ham since 2003. We won last season's corresponding fixture 1-0 thanks to an Eden Hazard header and a host of missed chances from both sides.