Manuel Pellegrini believes Chelsea’s perfect start to the Premier League season will provide even greater motivation to West Ham ahead of their derby showdown on Sunday.
The two sides meet at the London Stadium with West Ham boosted by ending a four-match losing streak following their first win of the campaign against Everton last weekend.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have been in irrepressible form under new boss Maurizio Sarri, moving to the summit of the table with five victories in as many matches, and kicking off their assault on the Europa League with 1-0 win over Greek side PAOK on Thursday.
“I know that here in London there are a lot of derbies, but we have our first of the season against Chelsea, and they are at the top of the table so that is more of a motivation to beat them,” Pellegrini said.
“It is impossible to start better than Chelsea have, but every game is different so we must be confident that we can play, and we need to be very concentrated on defending because they have players that make a difference in space.
“But, if we beat Chelsea it will not change our season. We will have just had six games, and not 38, so if we lose it will not be the final decision either. We must continue to try and improve every game, and every week.”
Chelsea’s preparations for the game have been affected by bad weather delaying their return from Greece.
This post was last modified on 22/09/2018