Chelsea Starting XI Prediction at West Ham United

Under Todd Boehly, Chelsea FC have spent almost 1 billion Euros in the past two transfer windows. In the three transfer windows of the Boehly era, the club have exceeded 1 billion GBP in total transfer spend.

On one hand, you must love this if you’re a Chelsea fan, because you don’t have to worry about the club having resources for player recruitment.

Chelsea at West Ham United FYIs

Kickoff: Sun. Aug 20, 4:30pm, London Stadium, London, UK

Team News: Chelsea West Ham

Starting XI Predictions: Chelsea West Ham

Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK

Google Result Probability: Chelsea FC 45% West Ham United 28% Draw 27%

PL Form, Position: West Ham United D, 1pt, 13th Chelsea FC D, 1pt, 11th

And yes, that was a serious concern back when it was first realized that Roman Abramovich was leaving.

So that’s a positive, but on the negative side, how does Chelsea balance the books here? What about Financial Fair Play?

What was the point of off-loading all those surplus players in June and July, getting a good amount of money in return, when all you’re going to do is get more players while spending like a drunken sailor?

This approach to the window is runaway capitalism; on steroids.

Why would you repeat last year’s critical mistake of building a bloated squad, where numerous players will be benched and then you create all sorts of challenges in the dressing room?

Why self-sabotage team spirit, in the name of extremist laissez-faire capitalism like that?

These are all questions that are far beyond the scope of this post, but they are all factors when it comes to predicting a first team selection.

I don’t have the answers to issues stemming from the Boehly cowboy capitalism, capitalism without constraints approach to the transfer market.

But I do have a guess at who manager Mauricio Pochettino might select for his first team on Sunday versus West Ham.