Thomas Tuchel says West Ham are ‘a huge joy to watch’ as Chelsea prepare to face their London rivals this weekend.
Chelsea travel the short distance to face West Ham at the London Stadium tomorrow, with both sides currently inside the Premier League’s top four following strong starts to the campaign.
The Hammers have gone from strength to strength under the guidance of David Moyes in recent campaigns and find themselves in the mix to secure Champions League qualification
Tuchel is anticipating a tough test for the league leaders on Saturday lunchtime, praising West Ham’s solidarity and describing tomorrow’s Champions League-chasing opponents as ‘joy to watch’.
“They almost got there last season and have been fighting the whole season for these plays. They show a huge solidarity, always a huge joy to watch their games. They did not have too many changes, play as a team and do what they do very good.
“They deserve to be there, they play strong in Europe, it is a tough match and a tough team to play against but it is also tough to play against us.”
The German also discussed the challenge of Chelsea finding their top level at a congested time in the season, with the west Londoners facing the second of nine December fixtures tomorrow.
“It is always another challenge coming,” he said. “We had a very exciting week with Leicester, Juventus, United. Big challenges but a lot of reward for big performances.
“Then there was Ballon D’Or evening, then a game on Wednesday. There has been a lot of distractions and a lot of different approaches to games.
“From Wednesday to Saturday morning there is no time to lose focus, this is what we did, we already had one meeting today and another in the evening to prepare our team.”
