West Ham v Chelsea predictions

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Chelsea
1pt 5-4 general

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Team news

West Ham
Kurt Zouma, Alphonse Areola, Thilo Kehrer and Maxwel Cornet are ruled out while Gianluca Scamacca is a doubt.

Chelsea
Chelsea could be missing as many as eight players with Raheem Sterling a doubt and Mateo Kovacic, Armando Broja, Christian Pulisic, N'Golo Kante, Denis Zakaria, Wesley Fofana and Edouard Mendy all unavailable. Joao Felix is available after a suspension.

Match preview

Chelsea's squad looks a lot stronger than it did a few weeks ago and the Blues can breathe some life into their season by defeating struggling West Ham at the London Stadium.

Graham Potter's side are ninth having won just one of their last six Premier League fixtures but there is a long way to go and they have only the league and the Champions League to concentrate on.

Some of Chelsea's best performances have been in the Champions League and, having done so much strengthening in January, they are entitled to fancy their chances in the round-of-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund, which starts with Wednesday's trip to Germany.

Chelsea are sure to target the competition, ensuring qualification for next season's Champions League in the most spectacular fashion, but they will also be hoping to join the scramble for a top-four finish.

There is little room for error now following goalless draws away to Liverpool and at home to Fulham and they will need to offer a much greater goal threat if they are to go on a run of victories.

The Blues are the division's 13th-highest scorers with 22 goals and there is understandable pressure on Potter to come up with the answers.

For much of the season the Blues gaffer's task has been hampered by injuries. But Reece James and Ben Chilwell were involved against Fulham and Potter has more options now thanks to the loan deal for Joao Felix and the permanent signings of Mykhailo Mudryk, David Fofana and Noni Madueke. He is spoilt for choice this week and if he makes the wrong initial call there will be plenty of attacking talent in reserve.

West Ham manager David Moyes could be forgiven for looking across with envy because Gianluca Scamacca's recent absence has left him heavily reliant on Michail Antonio to lead the line.

Antonio has developed into a powerful front man but has never been a prolific scorer and West Ham's general lack of goals - they have scored 18 in 21 league games - goes a long way towards explaining why they are struggling to get away from the relegation zone.

The Hammers performed well at Newcastle last Saturday, recovering from going a goal down early on to secure a deserved 1-1 draw, but they are just one point above the bottom three and their predicament may get worse as they prepare for a pair of tough London derbies at home to Chelsea and away to Tottenham.

West Ham also have some easier fixtures left on their schedule and should stay up, but they are up against it in this clash.

Key stat

Chelsea have won four of their last five matches against West Ham

Probable teams

West Ham (3-4-3): Fabianski; Johnson, Ogbonna, Aguerd; Coufal, Paqueta, Rice, Emerson; Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma.
Subs: Hegyi, Anang, Cresswell, Soucek, Lanzini, Downes, Ings, Fornals, Mubama.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Arrizabalaga; James, Silva, Badiashile, Chilwell; Gallagher, Fernandez; Mount, Felix, Mudryk; Havertz.
Subs: Bettinelli, Azpilicueta, D Fofana, Madueke, Chukwuemeka, Hall, Cucurella, Koulibaly, Ziyech.