Chelsea vs West Ham Prediction: Blues to win feisty affair at the Bridge

The first of two Premier League games on Sunday (14:00) sees a mid-table London derby between Chelsea and West Ham United being played at Stamford Bridge. 

We've previewed the match and given you our Chelsea vs West Ham Prediction, as well as the latest team news and odds. 

These two sides are heading in different directions as we come towards the climax of another Premier League season.

Chelsea leapfrogged their London rivals with a comfortable 2-0 win over Tottenham on Thursday night and will be secretly eyeing Manchester United's sixth spot with just four games left to play.  Mauricio Pochettino's side have lost just once in their last 11 matches and have won six of their last seven on home soil.

Meanwhile, West Ham have won just one of their last eight in the top flight and are in serious danger of dropping into the bottom half of the table. David Moyes will be concerned with how his side capitulated in the first half an hour against Crystal Palace, although they did put up a better showing against Liverpool last time out.

Despite their injury woes, it is the Blues who will go into this game full of optimism of picking up what could be another vital three points towards European football.

Team news

Pochettino is in the midst of an injury crisis for the visit of West Ham, with as many as 14 of his first team squad unavailable or a doubt. However, Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling are fairly close to a full recovery.

Moyes has no such issues, with only George Earthy and Nayef Aguerd confirmed absentees for the trip across London.

Match odds

Chelsea look to continue their good form and are priced at 4/6 to do so, implying a 60% chance of victory.  West Ham are the 18/5 outsiders, with the draw priced at 100/30.

Goals look likely at the Bridge, with over 2.5 at just 2/5 and the Betfred traders are keen on Both Teams to Score with yes priced at 4/9.

Chelsea to win and Both Teams to Score @ 8/5

As mentioned previously, Chelsea are in a great little run of form at the moment, if you discount the outlier of the 5-0 drubbing by Aston Villa just under two weeks ago.

They may have a paper thin squad to play with currently but their starting XI looks strong and in Cole Palmer, they possess one of the Premier League players of the season and a genuine X-Factor in this game.

West Ham, meanwhile look pretty much on the beach and they most certainly did at Selhurst Park, where they conceded four goals in 31 torrid first half minutes.

I expect Chelsea to win this one comfortably but I think the Hammers can grab a scant consolation goal to win this selection for us.

Each team to have over 19.5 booking points @ 8/11

You don't tend to think of this one as the archetypical feisty London derby but in recent years it's been exacly that.

West Ham have seen red in three of the last six head-to-head's between the two clubs, with Nayef Aguerd getting his marching orders earlier in the season, to add to Craig Dawson and Fabián Balbuena in previous meetings.

Chelsea haven't exactly been good little boys either, picking up 16 yellow cards in the last six match-ups and I can see this one going in a similar direction.

With the likes of Conor Gallagher and Moisés Caicedo in the centre of the park for the Blues, up against the always volatile Latin American pair of Lucas Paquetá and Edson Álvarez for the Hammers, this one could easily kick off again!

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