Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte (Photo : Getty Images)
Last season's dethroned champions Chelsea FC will look to redeem themselves this time as they begin the 2016-2017 Premier League season against West Ham United FC at the Stamford Bridge on Monday, August 15.
Now with new manager Antonio Conte at the helm, Chelsea had looked quite different as last season's team who struggled to climb out of relegation. The team had just finished a successful preseason campaign, winning four out of their six friendly matches in preparation for the upcoming term.
The Blues lost to Rapid Wien during Conte's debut, but it was largely seen as a feel-out game for the Italian mentor. They then defeated Wolfsberger, 3-0, and nipped Liverpool, 1-0, before almost winning a high-profile friendly with Real Madrid, 2-3. From there, they romped their next two opponents, AC Milan and Werder Bremen.
Chelsea thumped the Bundesliga side, 4-2, at the Weserstadion in Bremen with Conte choosing to play with a wide 4-3-3, Daily Mail Online reported.
The coach placed Eden Hazard as the main striker in the middle, which is something new for Hazard, with high-profile striker Diego Costa to his left and new signing N'Golo Kanté to his right. Oscar played behind the Belgian sensation, which proved to be effective as the four stars blended magnificently in producing the first three goals in the first half.
Substitute striker Pedro scored the final goal at the stroke of halftime.
Meanwhile, West Ham had been shaky with their preseason as they won only once during their six-game preseason schedule.
Their last preseason game ended in a 2-3 loss to Italian champions Juventus, as per SkySports.
The Hammers had been busy with player movements this summer but their most prominent new acquisitions are Havard Nordtveit from Borussia Monchengladbach and Sofiane Feghouli from Valencia on free transfers and their £20.5 million signing Andre Ayew from Swansea City.
The team will still be managed by Slaven Bilić, who had been with West Ham since last summer and was responsible for their impressive seventh place finish in the English top flight last season.
The predicted result is a 3-1 romp for Chelsea.
Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Courtois; Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic; Matic, Oscar, Willian; Kanté, Hazard, Costa
West Ham United starting lineup (4-4-1-1 formation): Adrian; Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Byram; Feghouli, Cullen, Nordtveit, Valencia; Noble; Carroll
