Renewing an old rivalry with Rafael Benitez will not be on Sam Allardyce's mind when West Ham meet Chelsea, according to the Hammers boss.

There has been little love lost between the pair since they had a clash of style and words when they were managers of Blackburn and Liverpool respectively.

Benitez had sarcastically suggested Barcelona were looking at imitating what he felt was Blackburn's robust style, while Allardyce said: ``He's got personal with it for many, many years now. That's why I don't like him and the feeling is probably mutual.''

The feud started when Allardyce felt Benitez had made a 'game over' hand gesture when Liverpool went 2-0 up against his Blackburn side in 2009.

However, as he prepared his team to face the European champions in the lunchtime kick-off, Allardyce is was not interested in going over old ground.

``I don't want to jump into that scenario, I am a bit bigger than that, I don't want to go tit for tat,'' said Allardyce.

``It was a long time ago, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then and I am just looking forward to the game.

``All I do is look to compete at a level going against not just Chelsea, but also against a man who has a real good record, to see if we can upset them.''

Allardyce will have midfielder Mark Noble available again following suspension, while on-loan striker Andy Carroll will be assessed after picking up a minor knee problem.

Meanwhile, Benitez admits Chelsea are desperate for a goal but insists scoring at West Ham would mean nothing if they did not win.

Interim manager Benitez has yet to witness either event in his two matches in charge, successive bore draws with Manchester City and Fulham.

Chelsea also failed to find the net in Roberto Di Matteo's final game at the helm, ensuring a run of three matches without scoring for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club.

Benitez is also the first boss of the Abramovich era not to win either of his opening two games and it was the latter statistic that more worried the Spaniard ahead of the trip to Upton Park.

Asked if the first goal of his reign would come as a relief, he said: ``More to win than score.

``We are close in terms of what we are trying to achieve in attack.

``The team has improved the shape in defence, but we need to be a bit quicker in attack.

``Scoring will give us all confidence. The team needs to score and to win.''

Chelsea's five-hour, 21-minute goal drought can be blamed partly on an even longer famine for Fernando Torres, who has found the net only once in almost two months - and that was a fluke.

In the Premier League alone, the £50million man has now gone 10 hours 49 minutes without scoring, with the arrival of his former boss at Liverpool doing little to improve his fortunes.

Benitez admitted this week that Torres had lost some of the pace that made him one of the best strikers in the world.

That prompted former Olympic 4x100 metres champion Darren Campbell to offer to coach the 28-year-old in the art of sprinting, having worked briefly with the Spaniard last year.

But Benitez, who has prescribed Torres weight-training sessions in order to improve his strength, said: ``It's interesting to have different ideas, but we have very good staff here.

``It's different running and running with the ball on the pitch, 11 v 11.

``[World Cup-winning manager Cesar Luis] Minotti, a famous Argentinian coach, said a sprinter has to run very fast, and when he reaches the line, he finishes. A striker has to run very fast to get the ball and then his game starts.''

Chelsea will be without the suspended David Luiz. Luiz picked up his fifth domestic booking of the season in Wednesday's goalless draw with Fulham and serves a one-match ban.

Chelsea remain without John Terry (knee), Frank Lampard (calf) and Daniel Sturridge (hamstring), although all are pushing to make their comebacks.


http://espnfc.com/en/preview/345714/preview.html?soccernet=true&cc=3888

Prediction-----West Ham 2 Cheski 0

Won't even bother watching it

I hope westham wins the match to see if Abrahamovich is going to sack benitez after 3 games of no win

Football bores d hell outta me....wondering wen i'd start aving some interest in it

i will like to see chelsea lose.
hehehehehe

1-1

IF CHELSEA NO WIN TODAIS GAME..........PITTYY? Rafa Benitez is (AGAG) As Good As Gone.......

rafhell: i will like to see chelsea lose.
hehehehehe

Thatx not possbu still on a stalemate streak man # winkx

westham 3: 1 chelsea

i dont see chelsea winning this game most likely a draw will do today.

Since Fashola banned Okada in Lagos until now, Chelsea is yet to win a match in the EPL

Clerverly: Prediction-----West Ham 2 Cheski 0

Nope not again!

futoprince: Since Fashola banned Okada in Lagos until now, Chelsea is yet to win a match in the EPL

You can say dat again, today's case will be different!

Rafa:chairman
Roman:yessss
Rafa:we need more signings
Roman:for whatttt?I didn't bring you here to sign players but to make '50' start scoring goals!
Rafa:but oga,we need to sign falcao,ribery,neymar & gotze to compliment '50' in goal scoring
Roman:see eh you spanish waiter,if you don't win today's match,you getting FIRED the next morning!!!
Rafa:SURE SIR!

Nnamdini: Rafa:chairman
Roman:yessss
Rafa:we need more signings
Roman:for whatttt?I didn't bring you here to sign players but to make '50' start scoring goals!
Rafa:but oga,we need to sign falcao,ribery,neymar & gotze to compliment '50' in goal scoring
Roman:see eh you spanish waiter,if you don't win today's match,you getting FIRED the next morning!!!
Rafa:SURE SIR!

Too dry, pls try another technique!

Nnamdini: Rafa:chairman
Roman:yessss
Rafa:we need more signings
Roman:for whatttt?I didn't bring you here to sign players but to make '50' start scoring goals!
Rafa:but oga,we need to sign falcao,ribery,neymar & gotze to compliment '50' in goal scoring
Roman:see eh you spanish waiter,if you don't win today's match,you getting FIRED the next morning!!!
Rafa:SURE SIR!

u are nothing but an arsenal fan and that i can bet with my dog. poverty has its way of changing peoples'way of reasoning. the names u mentioned above are possible with roman and still remain in the forbes list of world billionaires.
even in the wake of all poor performances, arsenal is still lacking behind.
it is important arsenal fans know it that chelsea has different targets from what arsenal work for year in, year out(top 4). we have a different ambition and as such, we are no more rivals.

Am a Chelsea fan, and I will really love to see Benitez fail. I want to see what Mr too much money will do. I pray we loose our next five games

​i'll always L♥√ع chelsea ₪☺ mata d weather. Though, our billionaire owner needs 2 av his head examined or else.....

Nnamdini: Rafa:chairman
Roman:yessss
Rafa:we need more signings
Roman:for whatttt?I didn't bring you here to sign players but to make '50' start scoring goals!
Rafa:but oga,we need to sign falcao,ribery,neymar & gotze to compliment '50' in goal scoring
Roman:see eh you spanish waiter,if you don't win today's match,you getting FIRED the next morning!!!
Rafa:SURE SIR!

I weep for this poster as his joke is just too dry...Must be a confused arsenal fan whom wenger has been decieving for 8years now..

shyna501: ​i'll always L♥√ع chelsea ₪☺ mata d weather. Though, our billionaire owner needs 2 av his head examined or else.....

my brother, he who pays the piper dictates the tone. if u get tired of chelsea, like some other arsenal fans, decamp. whatsoever the owner of chelsea has been doing, has been yielding him results. would u rather keep the coach like arsenal and let go the trophies? the man sacks and get trophies in returns so why disturbing ur head?

Earlier in the season,I was always looking forward to my darling Chelsea play but not again.
Pray they start winning consistently again.

Bloody chelshyt 0 west HARM 4 .....ℓ☺ℓz

If Chelsea want to start winning again they must dump Mikel!

The other EPL threads are there o; but no, fans of other clubs will pack themselves here to fill up Chelsea's thread. No wonder manu, arsenal and other threads hardly make up to 3 pages.

aribisala0: If Chelsea want to start winning again they must dump Mikel!

Thought he didn't play against Fulham and they still didn't win?
He played in almost all the matches they won earlier in the season.
The problem with Chelsea is who would put the Ball into the Net(we need a prolific striker who would rarely allow defenders do his job for him).

Watch out guys, we are turning that corner today....Upton Park has always been our hunting ground (Wish Lamps will play today, always scores a goal in this fixture).

Prediction: West Ham 1-3 Chelsea (yes, Torres will score)

KTBFFH!

Nnamdini: Rafa:chairman
Roman:yessss
Rafa:we need more signings
Roman:for whatttt?I didn't bring you here to sign players but to make '50' start scoring goals!
Rafa:but oga,we need to sign falcao,ribery,neymar & gotze to compliment '50' in goal scoring
Roman:see eh you spanish waiter,if you don't win today's match,you getting FIRED the next morning!!!
Rafa:SURE SIR!

Sincerely,it is very dry.The use of pigin eng for Benitez even made it more dry

West Ham vs Chelsea

West Ham (4) are currently 10th in Premier League with five wins, four draws and five defeats yielding 19 points from their first 14 matches back in the top flight. West Ham’s style of play is not particularly nuanced, but it has provided adequate results to date. Chelsea (1.93) again looked miles away from the side that enchanted with their inventive attacking play in the early weeks of the season, struggling to break down a deep lying Fulham defence and having just seven shots at goal to the visitors’ six. Benitez will take some comfort from a second consecutive clean sheet after seven Premier League matches without one prior to his arrival. But he must find a better balance between attack and defence if he is to have any hope of hauling Chelsea back into the title race.English trio John Terry, Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge are all training with the physio, but have yet to be set a return date.Its a (3.4) chance that both teams will come out with a draw.Neither side is in the best of form and we foresee a tightly-contested encounter that is likely to see few goals and could very well end with the two teams sharing the spoils. Join us and place your bets @ Sporty Bet ,13 Kasumu Ekemode Street, Victoria Island, Lagos +234 (0)8190519516

I just cut my skin open, guess what gushed out??, Blue Blood!!!!! Chelsea for ever!

Even if am chelsea fan and dnt like beni man, chelsea must win to keep pace on top 3.