The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

the times | Saturday December 4 2021 1GS 13

MATCH IN FOCUS

West Ham United (4-2-3-1)

Chelsea (3-4-2-1)

L Fabianski

E Mendy

M Antonio

J Bowen S Benrahma P Fornals

D Rice T Soucek

V Coufal K ZoumaC DawsonB Johnson

M Alonso R Loftus-

Cheek

Jorginho

H Ziyech M Mount

R James

West Ham United v Chelsea

Kick-off: Today, 12.30pm

TV: Live, BT Sport 1 Radio: talkSPORT

Referee: A Marriner

Chelsea will be confident having won their past seven away

London derbies in the Premier League (and it’s eight successive

away victories within the M25 when including the midweek success

over Watford). West Ham’s past seven away top-flight derby wins

have been spread across 26 such matches and, to pick an extreme

example, Fulham have won seven of their past 73 Premier League

away derbies. There may be an increase in the number of all-London

fixtures next season: the six capital clubs in the Premier League all

sit in the top 12 while Fulham are well placed to join them.

Thomas Tuchel has been changing Chelsea’s line-up to

such an extent that only three players have started as many

as ten of their 14 league games (Édouard Mendy and Antonio

Rüdiger 13; Jorginho 10)

All change at Chelsea

West Ham have not lost by more than one goal since the start

of February yet they have recorded 12 victories by two goals or

more in that period

Hammers never hammered

CLASSIC MEETING

The home side trailed 2-0, moved 3-2

ahead and fell 5-3 behind before

Bobby Tambling’s late double earned

a point and made him Chelsea’s

highest league scorer with 129 goals.

West Ham’s Peter Brabrook headed

home John Sissons’ inswinging corner

and Johnny Byrne set up Martin

Peters for the second but Tommy

Baldwin made it 2-1 from the rebound

after Tambling had struck a post. Then

came five goals in ten minutes soon

after the break. Tony Hateley levelled

from 20 yards and Charlie Cooke

volleyed Chelsea in front but West

Ham responded, Sissons scoring twice

with goalkeeper Peter Bonetti at fault

both times before the latter pushed

Byrne’s penalty onto a post, only for

the West Ham player to convert the

rebound. Tambling made it 5-4 from

the spot and then levelled from a

Cooke cross to give Chelsea a fifth

draw in a row.

ANTONIO

RÜDIGER

Chelsea

GUESS THE

SEASON

Answer:

1984-85

Rüdiger takes aim

Antonio Rüdiger has been a key part of a tight Chelsea

defence this season but he has also threatened in attack,

scoring twice from 19 attempts.

Most scoring attempts by centre backs in

Premier League this season:

December 17, 1966, top flight:

Chelsea 5, West Ham 5

West Ham since start of February, all comps

A Rüdiger T Silva A Christensen

R Lukaku

West Ham United

Injured: A Ogbonna

Doubt: A Cresswell

Chelsea

Injured: T Chalobah,

M Kovacic, B Chilwell,

N Kanté

Fewest players with ten or more Premier League starts this season:

Chelsea

Norwich

3 6 7

Arsenal,

Brentford,

Leicester, Man

Utd, Newcastle,

Tottenham,

Watford

10

Winning margins

Losing margins

1 goal

2 goals

3 goals

1 goal

9

5

7

Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea)

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Shane Duffy (Brighton)

Aymeric Laporte (Man City)

Tyrone Mings

(Aston Villa)

Michael Keane

(Everton)

Joël Matip

(Liverpool)

19

16

12

11

3rd

Forest dipped in to the third tier

from 1949 to 1951 and also

from 2005 to 2008

Won consecutive League Cups again in

1989 and 1990 but were bottom of the

Premier League three times in the ’90s

WHEN I FELL

IN LOVE WITH

TENNIS

Jo Durie, former

world No 5, first

picked up a racket

at seven and hasn’t

stopped

playing

since

O

ne of the first

memories I have of

tennis is when my

family used to go on holiday

to Lyme Regis, where my

great aunt had a court in her

garden. It was my first

introduction to the sport, at

the age of seven, hitting some

balls around with my brothers

and just mucking about really.

I then joined the Kings

Club in Bristol, where the

coach had set up a junior

programme, which was very

unusual in those days. There

were loads of eight and nine-

year-olds running around and

I just instantly thought, “God,

this is fun.” I loved it.

My first memory of

watching Wimbledon involved

the likes of Stan Smith, Ilie

Nastase and Rod Laver. We

had a black-and-white TV and

the coverage started at two

o’clock. I just remember it

being such an important event

and it grabbed my attention.

I went to Wimbledon as a

spectator for the first time on

a coach trip with my school,

and we were so lucky to have

tickets for Centre Court. The

whole day was so special. I sat

there and remember thinking,

“Oh my goodness, can you

even imagine going down on

that court and playing in front

of all these people?” I just

loved the sound of the crowd.

It made me dream of doing it.

That moment came in 1977.

I received a wild card at the

age of 16 and was drawn to

play the eventual champion,

Virginia Wade, in the first

round. I was shaking with

nerves beforehand but loved it

once the match started. There

were no expectations of me at

all and I lost 6-2, 6-2. But I

walked off thinking, “I want

more of this, please.”

I am so fortunate to have

worked in tennis all my life,

first as a player and now as a

coach and commentator. I still

like to hit the ball sometimes.

I cannot move as well with all

my replacement joints, but I

just love the feel of the ball on

the racket strings and what I

can do with it.

I lost my very first match

6-0, 6-0 at the age of eight

and cried afterwards. But here

I am at 61, loving the sport.

Durie at 13. She later won two

mixed doubles grand slams

In four seasons
from 1976-77
Clough led Forest
to promotion and
league title and
then two
European Cups,
adding League
Cups in the
middle two years