West Ham are all set to host London rivals Chelsea in Saturday’s lunch time kick-off as both teams seek to find some momentum in the English Premier League.
The Hammers are coming off a commendable 1-1 draw against Newcastle that leaves them in 17th place with 19 points.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have failed to score in their last two games that ended in barren draws, against Liverpool and Fulham.
The successive draws have left them in 9th place with 30 points, a staggering 10 adrift of the EPL’s top four positions.
West Ham are seeking to get back to back home wins for the first time since October and this would help them move further away from the relegation zone.
Though they have lost eight of their last 10 London derbies, while they have also lost four of their last five meetings with Chelsea.
Chelsea have scored just seven goals in their last 12 Premier League matches, as many as in Graham Potter’s first three league games in charge.
Chelsea have won four of their last five matches against West Ham in the league and will look to secure three consecutive such victories for the first time since 2011.
Matches between Chelsea and West Ham have witnessed seven winning goals scored in the last five minutes – more than any other fixture.
Is there going to be more drama expected in this early kick-off and can Chelsea snap their boring run of barren draws?
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What time does West Ham vs Chelsea start?
The game kicks off at 3:30pm Kenyan time at the London Stadium.
West Ham vs Chelsea team news
The hosts are without Gianluca Scamacca, Maxwell Cornet, Alphonse Areola and Tilo Kehrer who are all injured.
Kurt Zouma is also unavailable and will miss out on a date against his former employers.
Lucas Paqueta has been impressive and is set to retain his starting role alongside captain Declan Rice with Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma starting as well.
New signing Danny Ings is pushing for his first start but Michail Antonio is likely to lead the attacking line.
For the visitors, there are still a host of injury concerns but the return of Ben Chilwell and Reece James is very welcome.
Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Mykhaylo Mudryk all began in attack last time out and are pushing to feature in the attack once more.
Joao Felix is back after serving a three-match suspension and it will be interesting to see if Potter will include him in the starting XI.
West Ham vs Chelsea head to head
Chelsea have a good record against West Ham and have won 54 out of the 119 matches played between the two teams, as opposed to West Ham United’s 43 victories.
The remaining 22 have ended in a draw.
West Ham vs Chelsea current form
The hosts have won 3 games in their last 5 outings, drawn once and lost one more in that duration while Chelsea are struggling with only one win to their name in that time.
The Blues have also lost 3 times and are desperate to avoid another one here.
West Ham vs Chelsea prediction
Both teams are not at their best and this may make for a cagey encounter with not as many goals. A draw is the most likely outcome here.