Chelsea and West Ham go head to head in a west meets east London derby at the weekend.
Graham Potter’s Blues are in desperate need of points, having drawn each of their last two Premier League games and only won two of 11 in all competitions stretching back to early November.
West Ham, meanwhile, have had a poor season by the recent standars they have set for themselves, but have at least seen improvements to results over the last few weeks.
West Ham vs Chelsea H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Current Form (Last Five Premier League Games)
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West Ham team news
Hammers boss David Moyes continues to be without Kurt Zouma, Maxwel Cornet and Gianluca Scamacca. Thilo Kehrer is a major doubt after comign off against Newcastle last time out.
Alphonse Areola is likley to remain sidelined, although wouldn’t have started anyway.
West Ham predicted starting lineup (3-4-3): Fabianski; Johnson, Obonna, Aguerd; Coufal, Paqueta, Rice, Emerson; Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma
Chelsea team news
Joao Felix is eligible to return following completion of a three-match ban dished out for the red he received less than an hour into his Chelsea debut last month.
Illness forced Mykhailo Mudryk off at half-time last week, but he should be okay here.
N’Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic, Edouard Mendy, Armando Broja and Denis Zakaria all remain sidelined. Wesley Fofana is stepping up his training workload but may not be involved just yet, although Mateo Kovacic could be ready to come back in.
Chelsea predicted starting lineup: (4-3-3): Kepa; James, Badiashile, Silva, Cucurella; Gallagher, Fernandez, Mount; Ziyech, Havertz, Mudryk
Chelsea are in danger of finishing the weekend in the bottom half of the Premier League if results really don’t go their way. It has also been on concern that the Blues haven’t even scored in either of their last two outings against Liverpool and Fulham.
Another week to work under Graham Potter will have had its benefit as both he and the new players get to grips with each other. But an improving West Ham probably isn’t the place to go to return to winning ways and a draw feels a more plausible result.
Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Chelsea
