“We have to defend our colours” – Lucas Paqueta is looking forward to facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening and highlights how important it is for the club. 

The Brazillian has faced the Blues on five occasions since arriving in East London in 2022, winning once, drawing once and losing twice. Paqueta shone in the win over Pochettino’s Chelsea in August 2023, the Brazillian scored the third from the spot as David Moyes son won 3-1.

“Chelsea we all know is a derby and it’s a game we all look forward to, our fans and our players,” Paqueta told the official West Ham website. “Since I’ve been here, we played [against them] many times, and it’s a difficult game. We won a few, we lost a few, but it’s a type of game that we all relish to play, and the fans and the players all want to win, and we’ll try to do our best when we go there. We know Chelsea have been in good form, so it’s always difficult, but we’ll do it for our fanbase and for the team.

“We have to respect always the opponents, but we have to think about ourselves. We have to think about our work, how we’re doing. We have to go and defend our colours and for ourselves, for the fans, for the badge, and we just want to go and do our best, respecting the opponents on Monday night.”

Lucas Paqueta was named man of the match last time out for the Hammers against Aston Villa at Villa Park. In the absence of Niclas Fullkrug, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen who would usually fill the number 9 position, Paqueta stepped up and he really shone. As well as scoring, the 27-year-old’s all-round game was almost faultless, his hold-up play, first touch and creativity was on point.

“It was not the first time I played in that number nine role,” Paqueta explained. “When I first came onto the scene with Flamengo, I played there, and even in Lyon. I try to do my best and work hard to do it. Everyone knows my original position is a midfielder, but I’ll try my best to do it and to help the team.

“It’s a very different position depending on how the game goes and how the team is performing. If you have a good day when the team is returning the ball and passing around, then you can get better service up front. But there are days where your team is not performing so well, so you don’t get the ball as much, then it becomes a bit more physical. You have a lot of duels with the defenders, and it becomes a bit more draining and tiring, but it’s the type of game I like. I like physical and I liked the challenge.

“I do enjoy the physicality and the challenge that comes with it. Despite the fact that it’s not my strength – my strength is in midfield when I have the ball and I do like to have the ball with me and provide passes to goal, or score a goal or come close to it – but I do enjoy that physicality in my game, and it helps me improve, even when I have the ball, to do better.”

With Bowen expected to be fit enough to return to the squad against Chelsea and Evan Ferguson set to be announced as Hammer, it will be interesting to see if the Brazil International will continue as the nine at Stamford Bridge tonight.