Chelsea 3-0 West Ham: The one before Christmas

Thiago Silva and Olivier Giroud getting better with age 

Despite not quite hitting the halfway point in the season for matches played, Christmas is always a good marker for assessing the season so far. While Chelsea are currently sat in fifth following the win over London rivals West Ham, they're just 2 points off of second. In a very strange season, that saw the influx of eight new players to bed in without any pre-season at all - it's a decent position.

West Ham 3-2 Chelsea: The one that would have seen Chelsea go third

Christian Pulisic could not have done more

Despite the season being nowhere near over, commercial commitments took centre stage on Wednesday night as Chelsea new kit and sponsor were unveiled. It has yet to be confirmed that Chelsea conceded three shocking goals as an homage to their new shirt sponsor. Let's just hope it's not a trend that they plan to continue.

West Ham have now done the double over the Blues for the first time since 2002-03, a season in which they were relegated. To further contextualize that - 20 per cent of all the points West Ham have won this season have been against Chelsea. Frank Lampard could shockingly be the man to win Liverpool the title AND keep West Ham up.

West Ham vs Chelsea: The one that had a hot water bottle (and not much else)

Saturday’s early kick-off had the potential to ruin a lot of weekends. At least for those are Chelsea-inclined. And it certainly felt disastrous at the time, however, with as results trickled in over the next 36 hours it wasn’t SO bad. It wasn’t great, but it could have been so much worse. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United all dropped points keeping Chelsea safely tucked up in a Champions League place — losses to West Ham and Crystal Palace be damned.

More concerning than the actual result was the realisation that teams of a certain calibre know that they can ‘get at’ Chelsea. David Moyes’ West Ham played Champions-elect Manchester City last week. To face that free-scoring force, Moyes fielded a teenage defender and didn’t even bother with a striker. While his side are relatively injury plagued at the moment, it still highlights that they were prepared to take that loss on the chin. 

West Ham v Chelsea: The One Where Everyone Was Booked

Mugged right off by Bubbles

When your day begins with a giant teddy bear snubbing your handshake, you know that day is not going to be the one. Not that brilliant days have been coming thick and fast for Jose Mourinho as of late, but this proved to be an overstuffed omen. Reports that Arsene Wenger actually donned the bear suit before heading off to the Emirates for the late game remain unsubstantiated.

That pesky little bastard, hope, reared his head in the buildup to Saturday. Chelsea have an outstanding record against West Ham and until Saturday, the Hammers home form had left little to be desired. Mourinho played his strongest XI in Chelsea's mid-week Champions League match and they looked much better than they had done in some time. So he only went and picked the same XI again. Something tells me he may not do that again. At the end of the day, it’s results that matter - but with the extraordinary circumstances of the day, this particular loss felt a lot worse than how the team performed.

West Ham vs Chelsea: Hammers 0-2 Frank Lampard (& Oscar 1)

Jose: Forever Bursting Bubbles

For all the hype surrounding the 'friendly derby', the fact that Chelsea were away to West Ham seemed to fly under the radar. A completely sensible idea to have these supporters spend most of the day drinking before hitting up Upton Park … In no way was anyone more riled up from half the District Line being shut down causing absolute havoc for just about anyone trying to get to the ground.

Sharing is Caring: Chelsea v West Ham

200 Not Out. No Big Deal

Although it must have been tempting for The Interim One to tinker the hell out of the lineup as Chelsea faced a club who've only gained 14 points in 16 matches, Benitez went for the subtle 4 changes approach. It would be silly to let Fernando Torres play now that he's got a goal behind him and would have been facing the club that he's scored more goals against then any other club. But no matter, in Benitez terms, it was a decent lineup.

Many of those at the game had travelled from far and wide. Brentford. As the Chelsea Under-19s continued to embarrass teams in the NextGen Series. And with a mudhole there in place of a pitch, you can see why Griffin Park was picked to host part of the tournament. Once these players get to be man sized, they could be a real threat on pitches with grass and everything. Those that didn't make the trip, of course, had a full day of drinking in them on St Paddy's day to make nice with friendly neighbours West Ham. 

Third Round of the FA Cup ... Before all the Replays Arsenal and United

When Frank went up to lift the FA Cup...
Sign him up!!

Magic of the cup... cupset ... er, insert generic footballing cliche here. Thought I’d get them all out of the way before I bang on about some of the high and lowlights from the latest edition of Budweiser’s Third Round of the FA Cup. Other poor American lagers are available. The highs, the lows, the hands .... We had it all.

Southampton v Chelsea

Chelsea scored 5 goals, 2 from the new boy in town. Sound familiar? It’s all so 2010. Demba Ba has taken his role as Sturridge’s replacement very seriously and began his Chelsea career in the exact same manner. Chelsea supporters of course will be hoping that he plays a bit better with others and learns the fine art of passing as well as poaching.