A trip to the London Stadium and West Ham United beckons next for Chelsea, in a busy winter football schedule. With a narrow win against Watford last, they’ll want to cement a resounding and confident victory away from home this time.
Carefree Chelsea’s Daniel Child’s (DC) spoke to football.london’s West Ham writer, Tom Clark (TC) to discuss who West Ham would prefer to start up top against Kurt Zouma and Craig Dawson…
TC: “I would say Lukaku because Dawson, in particular, is so physical he doesn’t mind the physical challenge. The way to get past Dawson is his pace, he steps out… The reason I say Lukaku is because if it’s Havertz he might drop off.
“He’ll often play that false nine type of role and Dawson does get drawn to the ball and step forward - leaving space behind for runners. Whereas with Lukaku you’re more likely that he will be on the backline.
“His debut against Arsenal, I think where he bullied and dealt with Gabriel who he just tore to shreds. That won’t happen against Craig Dawson. Now look Gabriel is a good defender, I’m not saying he’s a better defender than Dawson.
“It’s just Dawson is physical, he’s strong in the air and won’t get turned that easily. But, he will get played around. So, if West Ham were choosing, it sounds so bizarre because Lukaku is such a good striker.
“I think we would probably have Lukaku.”
DC: “I think historically Lukaku does have a pretty good scoring record against West Ham. Especially when he was at Everton.”
TC: “Alright I'll change my mind I'll say Havertz then.”
Follow our Carefree Chelsea team members Daniel, Tom and Renuka on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
