Premier League: West Ham vs. Chelsea Preview, Odds, Prediction

West Ham and Chelsea share a massive rivalry, and they are about to meet this Saturday at the London Stadium. We’ve seen some memorable clashes between these two clubs, and we need to add that off-court factors further spice up the upcoming event. The current situation these two units find themselves in is not good at all. West Ham is near the bottom of the standings, just one point above the red zone, while Chelsea experiences a turbulent situation all year long. 

Preview

West Ham (+230) improved over the recent few weeks, as they had terrible form prior to the World Cup and shortly after the same. The Hammers’ record in the previous six events is three wins, two draws and one loss. 

Though, two of those victories came in the FA Cup, and of possible 12 EPL points, in the last four encounters, West Ham took only five. The problems for David Moyes are piling up, and right now, his position on the bench isn’t as secure as before.

The Hammers aren’t an enjoyable team to watch, and their games aren’t providing too many goals. The past five were all with under 2.5 scores, and in just one during that stretch, we’ve seen hits on both ends.

Chelsea (+125) has two wins since the World Cup ended, and in the meantime, they got eliminated from the FA Cup, with Man City beating this unit, 4-0, in that meeting. 

With just one triumph over the last seven contests, Graham Potter lost the initial swing, and he is under heavy pressure from the fans, and some even suggest that he might be on the exit doors pretty soon. Chelsea failed to score in four of the previous six games.

Now that’s nothing new for the Blues, who struggled to deliver upfront throughout the entire year, but at least with Tuchel in charge, they had some strength in the back line. We must add that Chelsea kept its clean sheets in the previous two EPL games, 0-0 against Liverpool and Fulham.

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West Ham can’t count on goalkeeper Areola, Keher, and Zouma, who are defenders and forwards, Scamacca and Cornet. 

On the other side, Chelsea’s injury list is pretty long. Kovacic, Zakaria, Pulisic, Mendy, Broja and Fofana are not in the combination. Meanwhile, some indications suggest N’Golo Kante might appear in this one.

Head to Head Games

Chelsea was better in the opening meeting of the year, winning 2-1 at home. West Ham was the one who broke the lock first, but after that, the hosts responded with two goals.

Prediction

Despite its current situation, be sure that West Ham won’t start the game with an open and offensive-minded approach. The Hammers don’t have the resources for such a game plan. Chelsea’s recent games taught us that Potter, too, prefers to lay back and wait, and each time he denounced such an approach, the Blues got punished. That’s why our bet here would be a low efficiency, that is, under 2.5 goals. Right now, the odds are -166 on this pick, which is a solid value when looking at the overall situation.

Pick: Under 2.5 goals -166