West Ham v Chelsea preview: Hammers hope to build on positives
A confidence-boosting 1-1 draw at St James’ Park against high-flying Newcastle on Saturday means his side have only lost one of their last six games in all competitions (W3, D2), pulling out of the Premier League’s (PL) relegation zone in the process.
The Hammers will hope to further that form at home, where they ended a run of four successive defeats by beating fellow strugglers Everton 2-0 last month.
Moyes won’t be happy to see Chelsea visiting the London Stadium though, as he’s suffered more defeats against them than any other team except Arsenal; a staggering 26 losses in 45 fixtures (W7, D12).
The Blues will be hoping to inflict more pain on the Scotsman, but all is not rosy at Stamford Bridge, as Graham Potter’s side are on a run of one win in seven outings in all competitions (D3, L3), including back-to-back 0-0 draws.
Even a January splurge of over £300m has been unable to rectify their form, with the club’s total of 30 points from their 21 PL fixtures their joint-second lowest at this stage of any season this century.
That means Potter is under plenty of pressure, especially as his 41% win record is the lowest of any permanent Chelsea boss since Glenn Hoddle, who was sacked back in 1996!
He has, at least, been boosted by three successive clean sheets (W1, D2), and a win at the London Stadium would just about keep the Blues in the European mix, as they look to close a gap of nine points up to fifth place.
Key battle: West Ham goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański has lost 14 times in 21 clashes with Chelsea (W4, D3), conceding 42 goals in the process! He may be trying to thwart Raheem Sterling, who made his return from injury last weekend and has picked up more league wins against the Hammers than any other opponent, netting eight times en route to 13 victories (D2, L2).
Hot stat: West Ham have won only two of their last nine Saturday 12.30pm PL matches (D2, L5), one of which was a 3-2 victory against Chelsea in December 2021.
