The memories come flooding back to Andy Irving as he reminisces on the last time he faced Chelsea.
The Scotsman’s 72nd-minute introduction in the teams’ reverse meeting earlier this season - as a replacement for Lucas Paquetá - represented a landmark moment in his footballing career, as he came on for his first competitive appearance for the Hammers, and first in the Premier League.
While that afternoon ended in disappointment, the 24-year-old Heart of Midlothian academy product insists he can sense the new-found belief and confidence in camp as West Ham United get set to face six-time English champions Chelsea, and is confident he and his colleagues have what it takes to claim at least some share of the spoils against their west-London rivals.
The Irons continue their top-flight campaign across the capital in the Monday evening kick-off, looking to register a second victory of the Graham Potter era, and boost their current 14th-place standing.
Though he isn’t expecting an easy task under the lights at Stamford Bridge, against Enzo Maresca’s sixth-placed Blues, our No39 is hoping the positives displayed in last Sunday's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa can power the team to all three points.
“My debut [against Chelsea in the teams’ reverse fixture] was a moment I’d worked my whole life for,” Irving beamed.
“I remember leading up to the game that I had a really good week in training, and then it came to the game at the weekend. The result wasn’t going the way we wanted it to go, and I remember just getting told to get stripped because I was coming on.
“It was a brilliant moment for me and my family and a reward for the hard work and belief that I had put into myself, and it had paid off at that point.
“It just made me hungry for more and to keep playing and pushing, and that’s what I’ve continued to do.”
Following the well-deserved point at Villa Park, and another strong week of training behind the scenes, Irving believes there is plenty to build on and that the Hammers can cause their old rivals problems across the capital, now heading into the first of three consecutive London derbies.
Chelsea have scored at least one goal in each of their previous ten top-flight matches, and have lost just twice all season at Stamford Bridge – to Manchester City in mid-August and near-neighbours Fulham on Boxing Day – but the Blues have only registered one win in their last seven in the Premier League, while they were defeated 3-1 by Manchester City last time out.
Some may approach these kinds of games with apprehension, but Irving is not that type of character. Instead, the midfielder is relishing the challenge and believes the team are more than capable of upsetting the odds.
“We know that facing Chelsea is always a tough task and that we’re coming up against a really good side with top-quality players,” said Irving, who has featured nine times in all competitions for West Ham so far this season.
“They are a really strong team, but we have that as well, so if we can take our quality and implement the way we want to play, then there’s no reason why we can’t win.
“We’ve shown what we can do against Aston Villa last time out, who are also a difficult side to face at home, and we handled ourselves really well and were probably a bit disappointed that we only came away with a point instead of all three.
“There are lots of positives to take into the game on Monday, and I’m confident we can take something from it.”
