West Ham host Chelsea in an all London affair that in recent times has been a very cagey tussle with the last 5 head to head meetings finishing with under 3 goals. The Hammers won the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge with an Aaron Cresswell goal proving to be the difference and sets West Ham up with an opportunity to do the double over Chelsea for the first time since 2002.
Since the return, West Ham haven’t scored a goal. The losses of sidelined Sebastian Haller and Robert Snodgrass have been instrumental in the lack of goalscoring threat West Ham have shown, Haller has resumed training this week but David Moyes has said he’s unlikely to play today, Snodgrass is still injured. The goal drought isn’t due to misfortune, the Hammers have only had 4 shots on target in their last 180 minutes of football and haven’t really got a real back-up for Haller, Antonio has had to fill the void and doesn’t look as good in a central role.
West Ham have collected 5 out of their last 33 available points which sees the East Londoners sit in 17th position, level on points with 18th and 19th placed Bournemouth and Aston Villa. The points that have been won have all been in home fixtures, the home figures of 5 points in their last 15 at home do not sound half as bad but the chances of a win today based on recent form are quite slim.
Angelo Ogbonna has been injured in recent weeks too and he was only fit enough to make the bench in their 2-0 loss against Tottenham but it looks as if he’ll be ready to start today which will allow Declan Rice to move into his usual role in midfield, which is a plus for Moyes’ men.
Chelsea continue to defy expectation with their youthful team lead by Lampard, they’re on a 6 win streak in all competitions with impressive victories in the FA Cup over Liverpool and Leicester alongside the recent league win over Man City. The Blues have only conceded 2 in that streak and their strength this season has been in their away performances- they’ve managed to get 50% of their points this season away from home and also have the third best away record in the league.
Christian Pulisic hasn’t played as many minutes as he’d have liked this season after struggling with fitness and injuries but has contributed 7 goals and 2 assists in his 1194 league minutes, he’s averaging a goal contribution every 132 minutes which is exceptional for a 21 year old in his first season of English football; he’s also scored 5 of his 7 on the road.
Tammy Abraham started the season with a flourish in his debut season playing first team football for Chelsea he scored 10 in his first 12 league appearances but has only scored 3 more in the 18 game weeks after. He has only played 57 minutes of the last 7 games due to an injury but he did play a full 90 in the cup against Leicester which gives the impression he’ll be ready to start his first league game since the first day of February.
The bookmakers correctly have Chelsea as odds on favourites for today but West Ham’s usual stubbornness at home is not to be underestimated. Chelsea will expect to get the three points against the relegation threatened side and I’d also side with them to do the job.
Chelsea to win is generally available at 4/6
Chelsea to win 2-0 is generally available at 8/1
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