‘No love lost’ says Graham Potter as he stokes the fire ahead of the West Ham clash with Chelsea and at least someone knows what it means.
Ask any West Ham or Chelsea fan of a certain age and this east vs west London derby is one of the biggest rivalries for both clubs.
There is absolutely no doubt the Roman Abramovich era, which catapulted Chelsea levels above West Ham, has diluted that rivalry among some younger fans for whom the likes of Liverpool, Man United and others are considered far more important matches.
Even from the West Ham perspective, the rivalry with Chelsea is not as fierce as it once was and it is a real shame. When I first started going to West Ham more than 30 years ago the rivalry between the Hammers and Chelsea was just as – if not more – fierce than it was with Tottenham.
It is understandable in many ways. When you compete at completely different levels for so long, that is bound to happen.
One example is the attitude of some supporters towards the future of Declan Rice.
The idea of Rice joining Chelsea would have been abhorrent 20 years ago – regardless of whether it is the midfielder’s boyhood club.
Nowadays there are some Hammers supporters who openly state they would be ok with Rice going to Chelsea – as if he has somehow earned it.
Rice will likely go to the highest bidder at the end of the day. But in my opinion West Ham should not even be entertaining the idea of selling their star to Chelsea. Behind Millwall and Spurs they are the club’s fiercest rivals.
Hammers fans had to endure nearly two decades of watching the Blues take their best players – from John Terry to Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Glenn Johnson – and lord it over them as they won everything in sight.
West Ham finally got one over on Chelsea by taking Rice when they discarded him and helping turn him into one of the best midfielders in the world.
So why should we now just accept Chelsea can have him back?
I digress. Back to this weekend’s huge clash between the two teams. And it has been very refreshing indeed to see Potter’s stance and comments ahead of the game.
‘No love lost’ says Potter as he stokes the fire ahead of the West Ham clash with Chelsea and at least someone knows what it means.
He may still be relatively new to the Chelsea gig. But Potter showed he knows all about the history between these two old London rivals.
“Going away from home in the Premier League is not straightforward everybody knows that,” Potter said in his pre-West Ham press conference (Sky Sports News 2.39pm).
“It’s something (our away form) we’re trying to address, we have to start against West Ham of course.
“I’ve been there with Brighton and had a decent record there but it’s a totally different context (going to West Ham with Chelsea), different situation.
“It’s a London derby. No love lost I don’t think between the two teams in terms of how the atmosphere will be which is great, it’s a good atmosphere for us to test ourselves in and try to get the three points.”
It is so refreshing to hear a manager talk up a rivalry rather than play it down.
Let’s hope the atmosphere matches Potter’s expectations at the London Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
Chelsea have won four of the last five league meetings with West Ham. The game is live on BT Sport.
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