West Ham United vs Chelsea

London Stadium forms the backdrop for an all-London Premier League showdown between West Ham United and Chelsea.

West Ham spurned a second-half lead in an opening-day 1-1 draw at Bournemouth. But while their start to life without Declan Rice wasn’t impressive, the arrivals of Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse should help the Conference League holders turn the corner. The ‘Hammers’ lag behind Chelsea in the all-time H2H record (W43, D23, L54), but they’ve closed the gap since moving to the London Stadium. David Moyes’ men are unbeaten in six of their eight competitive home meetings with Chelsea at this venue (W4, D2), though their manager cannot say the same about his fortunes against the ‘Blues.’ Moyes has only clocked up seven wins in his 46 managerial encounters against Chelsea (D13, L26). Keen to turn his fortunes around, the ex-Manchester United boss can draw confidence from leading West Ham to back-to-back home league victories at the back end of last season.

On the other hand, Chelsea delivered a spirited display on Mauricio Pochettino’s touchline debut, coming from behind to hold Liverpool to an action-packed 1-1 draw on the opening weekend. Despite showing some promising signs upon the Argentine’s return to the Premier League, the ‘Blues’ still have a point to prove after only winning once in their last 13 league matches. Moving outside Stamford Bridge may not be the best way to embark on their resurgence, with the ‘Pensioners’ registering just one shutout on their last 13 Premier League travels (W2, D3, L8). Slow starts have been a recurring theme in Chelsea’s recent away losses, as their three most recent league defeats on the road saw them concede within the first 20 minutes. Considering they’ve netted under 1.5 goals on four of their last six league visits to West Ham, their proneness to conceding early goals could be problematic.