Rewind 14 years to derby delight under the lights

When Chelsea roll into the Boleyn Ground on Saturday, it will be worth Hammers fans old enough to do so casting their mind back some 14 years to a memorable meeting with the Blues which also happened to fall on October 24.




A midweek encounter under the lights in the East End, saw West Ham written off by many before a ball was kicked.

The same is likely to happen this weekend, despite the respective starts to the 2015/16 campaign made by the two clubs, with Chelsea odds on within the sportsbook of 32Red UK to take the spoils back to west London.

Chelsea were also expected to win back in October 2001, though, with the visitors considered to be even stronger favourites on that occasion.

West Ham were, however, to halt Claudio Ranieri’s side in their tracks, inflicting a first Premier League defeat of the season on the in-form Blues as they were forced to trudge home with their tail wedged firmly between their legs.





The contest was also notable for being the first visit paid to Upton Park by Frank Lampard since his big-money exit over the previous summer, with the home support delighting in their casting of him as pantomime villain in chief.

Lampard did come close on one occasion to silencing, or at least quietening his critics, but he, like the rest of his colleagues, was to find West Ham in inspired form and in no mood to let a glorious opportunity pass them by.

Shaka Hislop enjoyed one of those evenings between the sticks, able to get his legs or hands in the right place at the right time to repel most of the ammunition fired in his direction, with the woodwork coming to his rescue on one occasion as the sporting gods continued to smile on him.

It was, however, the exploits of a number of outfield performers that stole the show.

Glenn Roeder had named a battle-hardened starting XI, but the robust tendencies of Tomas Repka, Christian Dailly, Nigel Winterburn and Don Hutchison were complemented by a sprinkling of stardust from Paolo Di Canio and Frederic Kanoute, creativity and vision from a young Michael Carrick and the boundless energy of Trevor Sinclair.

All were to play some part in an impressive 2-1 win which helped the Hammers to gloss over a slow start to the 2001/02 campaign which had delivered just two victories and eight points from their opening eight games.

The hosts required just five minutes in which to open the scoring, with pre-match bubbles likely to have still been hanging in the air as a free-flowing move littered with neat one-touch passing presented the ball to Carrick just outside the box.

He required just one more touch to crash home off the post, with a measured effort with the inside of his boot stroked low into the back of the net to light the midweek fuse.

Just eight minutes later and the Hammers doubled their lead with another fine effort from distance.

This time, Sinclair’s refusal to give up on possession saw the ball squirt towards Kanoute, who calmly touched his way through two diving tackles before drilling past a bemused Mark Bosnich in the Chelsea goal.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was to drag the Blues back into the game midway through the first half, escaping a rather deep-lying offside trap to drive into the box and lash into the bottom corner.

He was also to rattle the frame of the goal in the second period but, with Di Canio pulling the strings for the Hammers and overshadowing the efforts of his fellow countryman Gianfranco Zola, Roeder’s men were able to stand firm, while creating further opportunities of their own.


Having entered the contest with many questioning their credentials, and the position of their boss, West Ham would go on to end the campaign in seventh spot, just one place adrift of Chelsea and a UEFA Cup qualification berth.

This time around, it is the Hammers flying high - trimmed to 8/1 by 32Red, Unibet, 888Sport and others at the time of writing to finish in the top six - while Chelsea endure early-season struggles to languish in the bottom-half of the table.

Those of a claret and blue persuasion will, however, be hoping that the outcome remains the same when capital rivalries are rekindled at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

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