Chelsea vs West Ham Prediction: Pedro to pounce on Hammers defence

Fresh off the back of their Champions League triumph over Napoli in midweek, Chelsea welcome West Ham United to Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening (17:30 GMT, live on Sky Sports Main Event).

The Hammers have enjoyed a resurgence of late, but they remain five points adrift of safety heading into the weekend's London derby. Read on for my Chelsea vs West Ham predictions, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Tosin Adarabioyo, Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia and Mykhailo Mudryk remain unavailable for selection for the hosts, but Cole Palmer has been deemed 'fully fit' by Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior - after only making an appearance off the bench against Napoli -  so the England international is expected to start on Saturday.

Joao Pedro will likely get the nod up top over Liam Delap, while Reece James will revert back to a more familiar position of full back or central midfield, after playing centre-back in midweek.

As for West Ham, Adama Traore could make his full debut after his £2m move from Fulham, and fellow January signings Valentin Castellanos and Pablo Felipe - who both started in last week's win over Sunderland - are expected to retain their places at Stamford Bridge.

Lukasz Fabianski remains the Hammers primary injury concern, while James Ward-Prowse and Lucas Paqueta will also miss out, with both on the verge of completing moves away from the London Stadium to Burnley and Flamengo respectively.

Chelsea vs West Ham Odds

The Blues are 8/15, giving them an implied win probability of 65.2%, the draw is 7/2 and West Ham are 5/1 to claim a vital three points away from home.

Both teams to score is available at 4/6, while Cole Palmer currently leads the anytime goalscorer market at 6/5.

Chelsea win and over 2.5 goals @ 21/20

Rosenior has made an impressive start to life as Chelsea boss, winning five of his opening six matches in charge of the Blues. The only loss he's suffered so far came at the hands of Arsenal in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Chelsea have scored 16 goals across those six matches, but they've far from watertight at the back, as demonstrated by their 3-2 win in Naples on Wednesday night. The Blues may struggle to keep out a rejuvenated West Ham attack that has scored eight times across their last five league matches.

Rosenior's side have won each of the past four meetings with West Ham, so I'm backing a home win here but given the amount of goals both sides have scored and shipped recently, I like the look of adding in over 2.5 total goals, too.

Joao Pedro to score anytime @ 9/2

Joao Pedro fired in a brace against Napoli in midweek, taking his goal tally to four goals in his last three starts for Chelsea.

The Brazilian forward has eight goals to his name in the Premier League, and was on target inside 15 minutes when the sides met back in August at the London Stadium.

The 24-year-old is in great form, and is certainly worth considering to break the deadlock on Saturday.

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