West Ham vs Chelsea: Premier League preview, team news, stats, predictions, kick-off time

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of West Ham vs Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm.

Team news

West Ham are likely to still be without Aaron Cresswell for the visit of Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.

The left-back missed the draw with Brighton on Wednesday with a back problem but has returned to doing some light training. Angelo Ogbonna remains sidelined with a cruciate ligament injury.

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Reece James and Jorginho have handed injury-hit Chelsea a double fitness boost.

England wing-back James has shaken off an ankle concern, while Jorginho is back to full fitness after a recent knock.

Chelsea still do not know the extent of Trevoh Chalobah's hamstring problem, but the defender will definitely miss Saturday's West Ham trip, while Mateo Kovacic (hamstring), N'Golo Kante (knock) and Ben Chilwell (knee) will also be absent this weekend.

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Follow West Ham vs Chelsea in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel after full time.

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Last time out...

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Jones Knows' prediction

Chelsea's chance creation numbers are enough of a negative from the past two games to put me off backing them in this one at odds-on. They've averaged about 1.2 non-penalty expected goals per game over the last 180 minutes of football against Manchester United and Watford. That's a little south of their usual 1.7 average under Thomas Tuchel.

Also, when you thrown in their clear overperformance in defence in relation to their expected goals data, it certainly opens the door for a consistently dangerous attack like West Ham to trouble the scorers. That makes the 4/5 on both teams scoring very appealing. The Hammers have scored in 21 of their last 24 matches across all competitions and 63 per cent of their games since the start of last season has seen both teams score - the second highest strike rate in the Premier League.

This might turn into a frustrating afternoon for Tuchel's men in forward areas with West Ham happy to defend in a low block and hit in their usual lightning style on the break. It's a tactic that works just fine for David Moyes. He can get a result and dent Chelsea's title bid.

SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1

BETTING ANGLE: Both teams to score (4/5 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

• West Ham have won three of their last six home Premier League games against Chelsea (D1 L2), as many as they had in their previous 14 such games against them in the competition (D3 L8).
• Chelsea did the league double over West Ham last season. They last won three in a row against them in the Premier League between March 2010 and April 2011.
• West Ham have lost two of their last four Premier League London derbies (W1 D1), as many as they had in their previous 10 such games (W4 D4). However, they won their last derby match in the competition against Spurs, last winning consecutive meetings with London clubs in January 2019 (a run of three).
• Chelsea have won their last seven away league London derbies, an all-time record in the top four tiers of English football. The Blues have kept six clean sheets in this run, with their only goal conceded coming via Christian Benteke in April.
• West Ham are winless in three Premier League games (D1 L2), last having a longer run without a win in their final four matches of 2020 (D3 L1).
• Chelsea have made 50 changes to their starting XI in the Premier League this season, the most by a side after 14 matches of a season since Man Utd in 2009-10 (also 14 games); the only team to make 50 earlier into a season was Man Utd again, in 2001-02 (12th game).
• With five goals and five assists, Michail Antonio has been directly involved in 10 goals in his last 10 Premier League London derby appearances. Antonio is the only West Ham player in Premier League history to register double figures for both goals (11) and assists (10) in London derby matches.
• Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has won eight of his nine Premier League London derby matches (L1), with the Blues scoring 17 and conceding just twice in these games. In English top-flight history, the German has the best win rate in such games among managers to take charge of more than one (89%).
• Against no side has Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku scored more Premier League goals than he has against West Ham (9). He could become the seventh player to net double figures against the Hammers in the Premier League, which would be the most opposing players to score 10+ against a side in the competition.
• West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek scored his 15th Premier League goal last time out against Brighton and Hove Albion, with only Michail Antonio scoring more for the Hammers (25) since Soucek's debut in February 2020. Only three Czech players have ever scored more goals in Premier League history: Patrik Berger (38), Milan Baros (28) and Tomas Rosicky (19).

Premier League Preview - Gerrard's Villa impact assessed | Rafa's problems at Everton | Brilliant Bernardo Silva

Peter Smith is joined by Sky Sports News Midlands reporter Rob Dorsett, features writer Nick Wright and football journalist Oliver Yew to look ahead to the Premier League weekend.

PART 1 | Rob Dorsett discusses Steven Gerrard's impact at Aston Villa, the club's ambitious plans, and the reasons behind Leicester's underwhelming start to the season.

PART 2 | Nick Wright assesses the problems facing Rafa Benitez at Everton and what Mikel Arteta must do to get a misfiring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back in form.

PART 3 | Oliver Yew reflects on Bernardo Silva's brilliant performances for Manchester City, the strength in depth at Pep Guardiola's disposal, and whether there's a chance of an upset at Watford.

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