Team
news, key stats and prediction ahead of Chelsea vs West Ham in the Premier
League.
Team news
Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham will not feature on Saturday after injuring
his hip in the midweek Champions League draw with Valencia.
Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud will battle it out to start up front
against West Ham, while Olivier Giroud is still working back to fitness
after a pelvic problem.
Regular West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is still injured, and likely to
be sidelined for another month, and Manuel Pellegrini has given no guarantee
that he will keep faith with Roberto.
Should he axe the 33-year-old Spaniard then third-choice keeper David
Martin, signed on a free transfer from Millwall in the summer, will be
pressed into action at Stamford Bridge.
Elsewhere, Jack Wilshere, Winston Reid and Manuel Lanzini are still out
injured for the trip to west London while Issa Diop is suspended.
Opta stats
Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 13 home Premier League meetings with West
Ham (W9 D4) since a 2-3 loss in September 2002.
West Ham have won just one of their last seven Premier League meetings with
Chelsea (D3 L3), winning 1-0 at home under David Moyes in December 2017.
Having failed to win any of their first three home league games this season
(D2 L1), Chelsea have won each of their last three at Stamford Bridge
without conceding. They last won four in a row while keeping a clean sheet
each time back in January 2015 (a run of five in which the fourth game was
against West Ham).
West Ham are winless in their last seven Premier League games (D2 L5),
losing each of the last three while conceding three goals each time. Twice
before in the competition have West Ham lost four in a row while conceding
3+ goals each time (September 2010 and September 2016), and they could
become the first team to suffer this on three separate occasions.
This will be Chelsea's 250th Premier League London derby (W128 D67 L54). The
Blues have won more such games than any other side in the competition's
history, and also have the best points-per-game ratio (1.8).
West Ham have lost more Premier League London derby matches than any other
side - their next such defeat will be their 100th in the competition (W67
D48 L99).
Chelsea have opened the scoring in more different Premier League games than
any other side this season (11). Five of those 11 goals have been netted by
striker Tammy Abraham, more than any other player in the division.
Just 32% of Chelsea's Premier League goals this season have been scored in
home games (9/28). The lowest ratio of goals scored at home in a complete
Premier League season is 34% by Manchester City in 2006-07 (10/29).
West Ham's Michail Antonio has scored in each of his last three Premier
League London derby games - no player has ever scored in four such
successive appearances in the competition for the Hammers.
In all competitions this season, West Ham have conceded a goal on average
every 41 minutes with Roberto Jiménez in goal (19 in 776 mins) compared to
one every 72 minutes with Lukasz Fabianski between the posts (8 in 574
mins).
Charlie Nicholas' prediction
I said Manuel Pellegrini was the favourite to go if he lost at Tottenham and
I am pretty surprised he is still there. The fightback probably got him over
the line. It is the best batch of players they have had but Mark Noble is
probably in there arguing with team-mates and looking at the players who
need to be giving more.
West Ham is Frank Lampard's old club, Chelsea like to turn over West Ham and
I can't see anything else. Chelsea will have just got back from the
Champions League but it should be comfortable enough for them.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 2-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
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