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West Ham take on Chelsea this Monday as they look to bounce back from their 2-0 defeat to Everton at the weekend.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men turned in a blunt performance against the Toffees and need to raise their game if they are to defeat Maurizio Sarri’s men.

Football FanCast takes a look at three strategies Pellegrini can employ to take another scalp this season, having beaten Arsenal 1-0 earlier this season.

Cede possession

Against Arsenal earlier this season, West Ham had just 41% possession, per BBC.

But, without the ball, they were capable of packing the midfield and defence and forcing Arsenal to recycle possession into harmless areas.

Declan Rice scored the winner with a bullet header from a corner and the Hammers maintained their threat throughout the 90 minutes.

Allowing Chelsea to have the ball appears the wisest strategy Pellegrini can employ.

Sarri-ball often revolves around moving the ball across the midfield and the likes of Rice and Noble should be able to snap into challenges and win the ball back, launching counter-offensives in the process.

A low block

Against Liverpool, in a game which ended 1-1, Pellegrini’s men sat off the Reds and camped on the edge of their own half in a bid to restrict the space available to Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

It worked, with Declan Rice often dropping into the back four to form a five-man defence.

Liverpool subsequently found themselves starved of both width and space and struggled to create any clear-cut chances.

With Chelsea likely to play both Eden Hazard and Callum Hudson-Odoi on Monday, limiting the room they have to operate in seems a sensible move.

Foul

Against Chelsea earlier this season, the Hammers earned a creditable 0-0 draw at the London Stadium.

In that game, they conceded 11 fouls to Chelsea’s nine and subsequently collected two yellow cards.

While not within the boundaries of fair play, the strategy of breaking up play with tactical fouls is an effective one and it limited the Blues’ fluidity in September.

With the Hammers set to be the underrated visitors on Monday, a few clever fouls would not go amiss.