West Ham v Chelsea Tips: Best bets for huge showdown in the battle for top-four
Live on Sky Sports, West Ham host Chelsea at the London Stadium this Saturday at 5.30pm in this London derby. Both West Ham and Chelsea dropped points in their last league games as West Ham slipped to a 3-2 defeat vs Newcastle while Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw against Brighton. This means both teams are now tied at 55 points with Chelsea ahead on goal difference. Both will be looking to get all 3 points in the race for the UCL spots and an intriguing clash is on the cards.
Team News:
Yarmolenko, Randolph, Rice, Antonio and Craig Dawson are out for West Ham while Creswell and Masuaku are doubtful.
Kovacic is out for Chelsea. No other suspensions/injuries to worry about.
West Ham possible starting lineup:
Fabianski, Diop, Ogbonna, Creswell, Coufal, Soucek, Noble, Johnson, Fornals, Bowen, Lingard
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger, Hudson Odoi, Chilwell, Jorginho, Kante, Mount, Werner, Havertz
I expect this to be a cagey and tight affair considering the importance of the occasion. This bet has landed in 14 of Chelsea’s last 16 games in all competitions. Under Tuchel, they have been defensively very solid but goalscoring is still a problem with just 1 goal scored in their last 3 games. With the dangerous Antonio missing for West Ham and Chelsea’s lack of firepower upfront, I am taking the under 2.5 goals market as my 1pt bet.
Lingard has 7 goals in his last 7 appearances for West Ham. He is on fire for them at the moment and is also taking penalties. If West Ham are to breach Chelsea’s tight defence, you would have to fancy Lingard to do it and at a price of 23/10 I am happy to place 0.5pts on it as my 2nd pick.
Soucek is West Ham’s most booked player in the league with 6 yellow cards to his name. Jorginho is known for his cynical fouls and also got booked vs Brighton a few days ago. The double looks big @ 33/1 and will be my longshot for this London derby with a small 0.25pt stake on it.
