Chelsea will go head-to-head with the Premier League rival West Ham United at Stamford Bridge tomorrow; Saturday, September 3, 2022.
Pressure has begun to mount on the Blues manager, Thomas Tuchel following Chelsea’s unimpressive five-match start to the new Premier League season. Chelsea have played five Premier League games this season, having won two matches, the Blues lost two games and one draw against Tottenham.
It’s quite a disappointment for the Blues to have squandered a 1-0 lead secured by Raheem Sterling as Southampton bounced back to defeat them 2-1 at St Mary’s Stadium on Tuesday night, August 30, 2022.
Thomas Tuchel can’t let his side continue to be “too easy to beat” for too much longer and that is why tomorrow’s clash with the Hammers must be a straight win for the Blues to gear up their seven points to ten and level them up from the 10th position they occupy in the Premier League table.
Chelsea vs West Ham United probable line-ups:
Chelsea:(3-4-2-1): Edouard Mendy; Thiago Silva, Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly; Marc Cucurella, Jorginho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Reece James; Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling; Kai Havertz.
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Lucasz Fabianski; Vladimir Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Thilo Kehrer, Aaron Cresswell; Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek; Jarrod Bowen, Said Benrahma, Lucas Paqueta; Michail Antonio.
Chelsea Team News
The Blues Coach Thomas Tuchel will be without injured N’Golo Kante until October but Conor Gallagher is likely to feature in the weekend match against West Ham, after serving a one-match ban.
Chelsea’s injury list in the Premier League campaign has continued to grow; Ruben Loftus-Cheek may miss out on the game against West Ham on Saturday as he suffered a hamstring strain during the defeat to Southampton on Tuesday.
Likewise, Trevoh Chalobah (knee injury) and Reece James (virus) who missed from Chelsea’s backline at St Mary’s Stadium on Tuesday are still striving to recover and will not feature in the match against West Ham on Saturday.
However, Chelsea were able to seal and complete the transfer of Barcelona attacker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a two-year deal for a fee in the region of £10 million plus Marcos Alonso in the wee hours before the transfer deadline on September 1, 2022.
The agreement was finally reached after the two clubs agreed to swap players with Chelsea adding £10 million and sending Marcos Alonso to the Spanish side.
With the arrival of Aubameyang at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s fans hope to see Thomas Tuchel put his former Dortmund player to the best use to add more firepower to the team’s floundering frontline.
The new signing, Aubameyang will not feature in tomorrow’s game but Chelsea newly acquired £75m Wesley Fofana is expected to make his debut for the Blues in the match against West Ham tomorrow, September 3, 2022.
West Ham Team News
West Ham United have been experiencing a wasteful start to the season.
The hammers had lost their first three opening Premier League matches this season without scoring despite the club’s excessive spending over the summer.
Out of the five games played so far, West Ham lost three matches and defeated Aston Villa 1-0 while they had a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in their fifth game on Wednesday, 31st of September, 2022.
Gianluca Scamacca and Craig Dawson are nearing a return after they sustained injuries and may come up as substitutes tomorrow but Ben Johnson(tight hamstring) and Nayef Aguerd(ankle injury) are unlikely to feature as they are still nursing their injuries.
Chelsea v West Ham match prediction:
West Ham United have just one win in their last 16 Premier League away matches against Chelsea, losing 11 matches and 4 draws.
Given the Hammers’ poor start to the new Premier League Campaign and using their head-to-head against Chelsea as a yardstick, it’s not gainsaying that the Blues have the upper hand over the visitor and a victory for Tuchel’s side in Saturday’s game is quite sure.
Location: London, England
Stadium: Stamford Bridge
Date: Saturday 3 September
Kick-off Time: 15:00 BST / 10:00 EST / 07:00 PST.
