West Ham United vs Chelsea Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 14, 2015 @ 01:51 pm

Jose Mourinho takes his Chelsea side across London to take on a West Ham where you need to take a glance at the Premier League table twice to double check where both clubs are lying this year. Chelsea currently occupy 12^th after a difficult start to the season whilst West Ham are flying high in 4^th.

Slaven Bilic will be relishing taking on Chelsea in a London derby with Chelsea nowhere near the standard they set when running away with the Premier League last year. The expectations will always be with the champions and it could be a chance for West Ham to secure a rare win over Chelsea. Nobody would’ve predicted the ex-Croatia manager to guide the Hammers to 4^th in the table and have gone to Arsenal, Liverpool Manchester City this season and won but they’ve done exactly that and fully justify having 17 points from 9 games and are currently the 2^nd top goal scorers (20) in the league behind Manchester City. The West Ham supporters began the season in deflated mood after being knocked out of the Europa League by a 3-2 aggregate side to Romanian minnows, Astra but the fans have been more than happy with the Premier League form to date.

Mourinho has already witnessed 4 defeats in the Premier League this season after just 9 games. No team has ever gone on to win the Premier League after the start they’ve endured but if one manager is capable of turning it around then it certainly is the Chelsea boss. 2 clean sheets in a row against Aston Villa and Dynamo Kyiv respectively have brought some stability but it is the attacking movements that concern him most. Eden Hazard looks quarter of the player he was last year whilst Diego Costa still looks short of full match fitness. Chelsea’s reliance on Costa is ever greater with the shortage of strikers at Chelsea and the decision to bring in Radamel Falcao looks to have backfired as the Colombian’s career in England continues to decline.

When these 2 sides met for the first time last season West Ham were also in 4^th position as late as Boxing Day but Sam Allardyce elected to opt for the cautious approach and try to defend for as long as possible. That just isn’t the so called ‘West Ham way’ and ultimately cost him his job. They lost that game and it was 1 of the 14 defeats they’ve suffered against Chelsea in the last 18 Premier League London derbies winning just 1. Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in the past 5 meetings with West Ham but Bilic’s side have scored in every game this season.

There was positive news for West Ham during the week as Enner Valencia made his comeback in a U21’s game on Monday night against Wolves. He scored in the 4-0 win and completed 45 minutes on his return from the nasty ankle injury he sustained in July. Valencia was an unused sub against Crystal Palace last weekend. He could well come into contention with Victor Moses unable to play against his parent club. Mourinho will be without Thibaut Courtois and Branislav Ivanovic for Saturday’s clash.

West Ham

Stats: W-5 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - WLDDW

Chelsea

Stats: W-3 L-4 D-2

Recent Form - DWLLD

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

West Ham (4-2-3-1) – Adrian, Jenkinson, Tomkins, Collins, Cresswell, Noble, Kouyate, Zarate, Lanzini, Payet, Sakho.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) – Begovic, Zouma, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Matic, Ramires, Willian, Fabregas, Hazard, Diego Costa.

Injury List/Suspended Players

West Ham – O’Brien (inj).

Chelsea – Courtois (inj), Ivanovic (inj).

League Positions