Three things to look out for against Chelsea

After scoring a dramatic late winner against Sunderland on Saturday the Hammers now face London rivals Chelsea in the fourth round of the EFL Cup. We’ve already managed to make it further in the competition than we did last last season but can we go on to win it? First, we need to defeat Chelsea. Here are three things to look out for…

How do we counter Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3?

It’s a formation Conte is known for though he did not adopt it earlier on in the season. Poor results have meant that Conte has forced his style of play on his players and it has certainly worked. Since switching to a 3-4-3, Chelsea have played three games, won three games, scored nine goals and conceded zero. So how do we counter it?

We saw Manchester United struggle immensely with their wingers effectively playing as full-backs to cover both Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso. Will we see the same happen to our wingers? Or will Slaven Bilic play Michail Antonio on the wing who has no problem bombing up and down the pitch with Dimitri Payet in the middle?

Will youth get a chance?

The cup competitions are known for introducing youth into the team and a chance for them to display their talents. Reece Oxford has not played a single minute in the Premier League this season and should he not get minutes in this game, when will he? Ashley Fletcher is another player who has not started as much as he’d have liked but may feature against Chelsea.

But Bilic will need to decide what is more important - the Premier League or the EFL Cup? We do have Everton to play on Sunday and let’s not forget that we are only three points clear of the relegation zone. Given their form we have to be at our strongest but does that mean resting key players in the game against Chelsea?

Michy Batshuayi - what could have been.

We all know that West Ham wanted to sign a big-name striker in the summer and Batshuayi was one that was heavily linked. He ended up signing for Chelsea but it has not been the start that he may have hoped for. He has not started for the club in the Premier League and with Diego Costa finding his form, it may be a while before Batshuayi becomes a regular starter.

He is likely to start against us on Wednesday and it leaves many thinking, what could have been? We signed both Simone Zaza and Jonathan Calleri in the summer but neither have particularly impressed. But Batshuayi has and had he signed for us in the summer, would we be further up the league table? Here’s hoping that he displays why we were lucky to miss out on him on Wednesday.