Premier League: East Meets West Under the Friday Floodlights

West Ham United v Chelsea

Week two of the new Premier League season and a meeting between capital rivals – two sides who drew significant blanks on opening weekend, although one result was far more alarming than the other.

It’s the cheeky cockney chappies from east London against the unofficial world champions, who ply their trade in west London.

This SBOTOP onlooker knows that West Ham and Chelsea don’t really like each other too much and that should be sufficient to prompt Premier League 2025 highlights.

 

Talking Points

Let’s start with the home side who were on the receiving end of a 3-0 beating by newly promoted Sunderland last Saturday.

That has likely hurried the desire of manager Graham Potter – formerly of Chelsea, of course – for midfield reinforcements after their frailties were exposed on Wearside.

Fenerbahce may be pushing to complete a deal to sign Edson Álvarez on loan with an option to buy but it’s incomings in that department that the Hammers required.

The club had a £30 million bid rejected for Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes last week and were beaten by Newcastle to the signing of Jacob Ramsey from Aston Villa.

In addition, it’s reported that Álvarez or Guido Rodríguez need to leave before they can secure certain their targets, so the chances of anyone joining the ranks of the Hammers before Friday night’s clash appear slim.

They certainly are desperately short of energy and creativity in midfield and, again according to reports, the club also had an approach for Andrey Santos rejected by Chelsea earlier this week and have been advised not to try again for the Brazilian midfielder.

Once they fell behind against Sunderland last weekend, they rarely looked like working their way back into the game and Potter can rightly expect more fight from his players, including a glimpse of Lucas Paqueta without charges hanging over his head.

The Brazilian needs to quickly rediscover the form which piqued Manchester City’s interest two summers ago after it was confirmed he had been cleared of spot-fixing by an independent regulatory commission, removing a shadow that stood to wreck his career – almost two years after the Football Association launched an investigation into him.

Paqueta has impressed during pre-season; Jarrod Bowen, the captain, continues to deliver in attack and has shown signs of a productive partnership with Niclas Füllkrug and now is the time for them to start delivering or put yet another manager under pressure.

Now is also the time the time to start accurately judging Chelsea under the Italian  Enzo Maresca to see just how good, or otherwise, they really are.

They were held at home by Crystal Palace in their opener, a goalless draw, despite fielding an attack which cost them £250 million to assemble.

It was a game in which they mustered just three shots on target and they will be expected to produce far more when they make the journey across the capital.

Their squad is the biggest of any in the game but their summer outlay may not be finished just yet.

Xavi Simons and Alejandro Garnacho continue to be linked with a move and Maresca has made it clear he would like a new centre-back to come in amid the ACL injury that will see Levi Colwill miss the entire campaign.

 

History

East versus West has produced some classic encounters over the years.

The west (Chelsea) have won 57, the east (West Ham) 44, and there have been a further 23 draws.

Last season’s meetings were both won by Chelsea.

Two goals in the opening 18 minutes from now wantaway frontman Nicolas Jackson set them on their way before Cole Palmer added a third just after the break in a 3-0 cruise.

It was closer at Stamford Bridge in February when an own goal separated the sides after Bowen and Pedro Neto had traded goals.

West Ham have only won two of their last 10 against Chelsea but one of those was in this fixture two seasons ago when goals from Nayef Aguerd, Michail Antonio and Paqueta (penalty) secured a 3-1 success. Carney Chukwuemeka replied for Chelsea.

The very first match-up between the sides came in 1923, a goalless draw in the former Division One at Stamford Bridge.

 

Betting Tip

It would only take a first home defeat of the campaign for the pressure to be on West Ham and Potter and the Premier League 2025 betting odds don’t fancy them to achieve that.

The Hammers can be backed 1X2 @ 4.17 and Asian Handicap +0.50 @ 2.21, in contrast to Chelsea 1X2 @ 1.72 and Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 2.21.

The draw will payout @ 3.58 and a repeat of last season’s 3-0 away cruise @ 14.50 with Correct Score.

I expected last season’s game to be much closer, whereas now you can see it being one-way traffic.

Given that, I am going to opt for a closer encounter as the Hammers battle for pride and to avoid the wrath of their fans.

Total Goals 2-3 @ 2.03 has caught my eye but I am plumping for a *** bet of 1X2 Draw @ 3.65.

   

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