Chelsea and West Ham get their Premier League campaigns underway on Monday night for the first London derby of the season at Stamford Bridge. Both teams will be looking to pick up a positive result to kick start their crucial seasons.
Team News
Chelsea’s squad is looking very thin going into this game after the departures of Baba Rahman to Schalke, Papy Djilobodji to Sunderland and Mohamed Salah to Roma. However, new signings, N’Golo Kante and Michy Batshuayi will be available for this up and coming game against their London rivals.
Kurt Zouma is still out with a long-term injury and John Terry may not be available for this match as he had to come off against Werder Bremen on Sunday after a blow to the head. Many Chelsea players have come back from international duty at tournaments such as Euro 2016 and the Copa America which means they won’t be fully match fit for this game.
West Ham’s new signings Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtveit, Ashley Fletcher, Arthur Masuaku and Andre Ayew are all expected to be in the match day squad for Monday’s game. Masuaku is in line to be thrown right into the deep end for his debut on Monday against the 4 times Premier League champions as there is no other left back available due to Aaron Cresswell’s injury and Lewis Page and Stephen Hendrie being out on loan.The injury to Gokhan Tore is still unclear but he didn’t feature in either of the Europa League 3rd Round Qualifier legs or against Juventus in the
The injury to Gokhan Tore is still unclear but he didn’t feature in either of the Europa League 3rd Round Qualifier legs or against Juventus in the Betway Cup so I doubt he will start against his former team on Monday night. Angelo Ogbonna, James Collins and Dimitri Payet all featured in Euro 2016 and they have now all joined up with the squad after their breaks. Payet will most probably be on the bench with Collins as they had longer tournaments than Ogbonna, who is in contention to start.
Predicted XI’s
Chelsea: 4-4-2 – Courtois; Aina, Ivanovic, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Willian, Kante, Fabregas, Hazard; Batshuayi, Costa
West Ham: 4-4-2 – Adrian; Byram, Reid, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Feghouli, Noble, Kouyate, Antonio; Ayew, Carroll
Previous Meetings
Last season was a very forgettable one for Chelsea fans but a highly memorable one for West Ham fans in which they saw their team pick up 4 points against their fierce London rivals Chelsea with a 2-1 win at Upton Park and an unlucky 2-2 draw away from home. However, it has not been all that good for West Ham in the past against Chelsea, only winning 1 of their past 6 meetings before the 2015/16 Premier League season. Overall, Chelsea have won 41.8% of their games against the Hammers with West Ham winning 37.4% of their previous encounters with 20.9% being draws.
Predictions
Both sides will be under immense pressure come Monday night for two completely different reasons. Chelsea will be under pressure to kick-start their rebuilding campaign after last season dreadful performances. However, West Ham will also be under great pressure to carry on the form that they showed for the most of last seasons. It is expected to be a cagey affair between these two teams, my prediction is Chelsea 1-1 West Ham.
Match Details
The match will be taking place at the home of Chelsea, Stamford Bridge at 20:00 on Monday, 15th of August. You can catch this game on Sky Sports 1 at 19:00 on Sky Channel 401 (HD) or 408 (SD) and Virgin Media Channel 501 (HD) or 511 (SD).
