In their ongoing battle against relegation, West Ham’s manager David Moyes will be hoping they can build on what he called “one of our greatest performances of the season.” His team has only lost one of their previous six games in all competitions (W3, D2), climbing out of the Premier League (PL) relegation zone as a result of Saturday’s 1-1 draw at St. James’ Park against high-flying Newcastle.
The Hammers will look to continue this trend at home, where they recently defeated Everton 2-0 to snap a run of four straight losses. However, Moyes won’t be pleased to see Chelsea play at the London Stadium because he has lost to them more often than any other team save Arsenal—a startling number of times. astonishingly, 26 loses in 45 games (W7, D12).
However, things are not looking good at Stamford Bridge as Graham Potter’s team is on a run of just one victory in seven games in all competitions (D3, L3), including back-to-back 0-0 draws. The Blues will be hoping to inflict further misery on the Scotsman. Even a January spending spree of more than £300 million hasn’t been able to turn around the club’s performance; their tally of 30 points from 21 Premier League games is tied for the second-lowest at this point in any season this century.
That means Potter is under a lot of pressure, especially given his 41% victory rate is the worst of any Chelsea manager who has been in his position permanently since Glenn Hoddle was fired in 1996! At least he has been buoyed by three straight wins and shutouts (W1, D2), and a victory at the London Stadium would just about keep the Blues in the mix for Europe as they try to close a nine-point gap to fifth place.
In 21 matches against Chelsea (W4, D3), West Ham goalkeeper ukasz Fabiaski has lost 14 games and allowed 42 goals. He might be attempting to stop Blues leading scorer Kai Havertz, who has scored first or last in 18 of his previous 23 club-level scoring opportunities.
Hot fact: West Ham has only won two of their past nine Saturday 12.30pm Premier League games (D2, L5), with one of those victories coming against Chelsea in December 2021 with a score of 3-2.