Chelsea will look to get their mojo back when they visit West Ham United in a London Derby of the English Premier League on Saturday.
The Blues, in fourth with 21 points from 11 matches, have been far from impressive in the last couple of Premier League games, losing 2-0 at Newcastle, before escaping with a 2-2 draw against West Brom, thanks to a highly-debatable late penalty.
Jose Mourinho has not quite weaved his magic yet into the squad, but then that could only be a matter of time, especially with the talent at his disposal.
With the Premier League now set for an extended run without too many international breaks, Chelsea will look to consistently pick up three points to begin their climb towards their summit, and that climb could start at West Ham.
"We have to do better, we've had very difficult matches away, I think our fixtures until now were not the easiest, especially away," Mourinho said. "We played already against two title contenders, we played already against Everton and Newcastle, which are always difficult stadiums. I'm not saying teams that fight for the title, but teams that fight immediately for the second block, so we've had difficult matches.
"Of course we want to do better, and we need to get more points from our next five matches away than the first five. We play consecutive matches from now, always Chelsea matches in different competitions.
"We need points, in this moment we are in the Champions League area, we are fourth [in the Premier League], four points from the leaders. We have to try and make the situation better, or at least make sure it doesn't get any worse.
"We have to focus on this match, it will be a difficult match for us, it always was during my first time here and I think every team has a hard match there, so we have to be on top of our game if we want a result."
The Hammers have not had the best of seasons so far, and lie in 16th place with just 10 points from 11 games, the same as third from bottom Fulham. They do, however, have one of the best defensive records in the league, but scoring goals has been a big problem for Sam Allardyce's side, with just nine goals all season.
"The mainstay of our season so far has been our defence, especially away from home," Allardyce said. "At Norwich, though, we made defensive errors that caused us to lose the game that we shouldn't have lost.
"It's the mainstay of our game until we find more goals. It's not the fact that we're not creating chances - it's the fact we are converting chances often enough and the stats prove that. Our stats show we're making as many chances as anybody else, but our failure rate is the highest, so we need to continue to try to improve that.
"Mainly, our focus is on the fact we are a very good defensive side and we keep a lot of clean sheets. At the moment, we're pleased with our performances but very disappointed with our results."
Team News: West Ham have major doubts over Razvan Rat after the defender was taken off in the first half of Romania's World Cup playoff against Greece. James Collins and Joey O'Brien could be available, though, with George McCartney also returning, while Winton Reid is sidelined.
Fernando Torres has still not recovered from a leg injury, while Ashley Cole is a slight doubt with a rib problem. Mourinho, however, did confirm Cesar Azpilicueta would start at left-back after the Spain international's impressive performance in that position in the last couple of games.
Key men: West Ham: Goals is the problem for the Hammers, and Allardyce will be hoping Ravel Morrison can create as well as score a few against the Blues.
Chelsea: Mourinho's favourite player seems to be Oscar, and therefore the pressure will be on the Brazilian to live up to the Portuguese's expectations and shine against West Ham.
Where to Watch Live
The game is scheduled for an 11 pm IST start with live coverage on Star Sports 4. You can also live stream the match online in India by going to the official Star Sports website. To watch the match by live streaming in the U.S. click HERE. To catch the action via live streaming in Northern Africa and the Middle East, click HERE. To watch the match live online in the U.K., click HERE.
Expected lineups: West Ham: Jaaskelainen; Demel, Tomkins, Collins, O'Brien; Diame, Noble; Downing, Morrison, Cole; Nolan.
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry; Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Eto'o.
Prediction: 2-0 to Chelsea
