West Ham v Chelsea | Match Preview, Odds To BetOn and Prediction
West Ham United welcome rivals Chelsea to the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon and would love to pick up all three points in their first home game of the new season after being held to a draw in their opening outing. The Hammers are underdogs against the Blues, however, so they risk having just one point from their first two games if they fall short.
Chelsea also drew their first game of the new campaign, but they kept Liverpool at bay and are expected to have a better season than the last after strengthening heavily in the transfer market. Mauricio Pochettino has a young squad full of depth in every area, so bookmakers fancy an away win at the London Stadium.
Chelsea are 23/20 with 10Bet To Win against West Ham, but it’s worth noting that the Hammers don’t have a bad record at home to Pochettino’s side. West Ham drew 1-1 with Chelsea last season and have only lost two of their last nine head-to-heads at the London Stadium. United are 27/10 with Unibet To Win. West Ham and Chelsea are 11/4 with BetWay To Draw.
The Hammers finished 14th in the Premier League last season, racking up just 40 points from 38 games. They lost 20 matches and kept fewer clean sheets than 14 other clubs. Both West Ham and Chelsea drew 1-1 in their opening league game last week, so Both Teams To Score is 3/4 with Bet UK.
West Ham averaged only 1.1 goals per game in 2022/23 and didn’t have a player who scored more than six league goals, so they don’t have many prolific attackers at their disposal. Jarrod Bowen, who contributed 12 goals in 38 league games, is 12/1 with SkyBet to be First Goalscorer and 9/2 with SkyBet to Score Anytime.
Saïd Benrahma, who was joint-top goalscorer with Bowen, is 12/1 with Boyle Sports to be First Goalscorer and 4/1 with Bet UK to Score Anytime. David Moyes has a choice to make upfront between Michail Antonio (11/1 with Boyle Sports to be First Goalscorer, 7/2 with Betfair to Score Anytime) and Danny Ings (9/1 with SkyBet to be First Goalscorer, 7/2 with Betfair to Score Anytime), so they’re most likely to hurt Chelsea.
As for the Blues, Chelsea finished 12th last season, losing 16 games while scoring only 38 times. Pochettino inherited an underachieving club but has sold deadwood and replaced it with talent, so Chelsea should be much-improved this campaign. They only kept one clean sheet more than West Ham in 2022/23, so Total Goals Over 2.5 is 20/21 with Matchbook.
Chelsea struggled to score last season but have added Nicolas Jackson to the squad who bagged 12 goals from 26 La Liga games for his former club Villarreal, so he might be one to watch. Jackson is 11/2 with Boyle Sports as First Goalscorer and 15/8 with Bet 365 to Score Anytime. Raheem Sterling had a poor debut season but is determined to turn things around, so he’s 15/2 with Boyle Sports to be First Goalscorer and 5/2 with Betfair to Score Anytime.
Prediction: West Ham 1-2 Chelsea
