West Ham's fight for survival continues as they take on fourth-placed Chelsea in the 32nd round of the English Premier League. The Hammers, at 17th, are tied on 27 points with Bournemouth and Aston Villa, the two teams immediately below them in the table. Meanwhile, Chelsea will be out to close the one-point gap between them and third-placed Leicester,.
The Hammers have lost all of their matches since the league restarted, most recently falling 2-0 at Tottenham, three days after losing by a similar scoreline at home to Wolves. The loss at the White Hart Lane was the third in a row for West Ham, who had gone into lockdown after a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal. Overall, in ten league matches, West Ham have only won once and lost seven times. Their home form is equally disastrous as they have lost six times in ten matches, while drawing twice.
Chelsea had to rally from behind to beat Aston Villa in their first match after the break, but they had a much better game against second-placed Manchester City, whom they beat 2-1. With four wins and one draw from their last five league games, the Blues are in better form currently compared to West Ham, who have won once and lost four times out of a similar number of games. However, this is an away match and Chelsea have recently been struggling on the road where they have won just once in five matches, although three were drawn. Additionally, they have only beaten West Ham once in five matches, with the East Londoners winning twice as two were drawn.
The stakes are high for both opponents in this London Derby as Chelsea seek to finish among the top three as West Ham fight to stay in the league. We expect plenty of activity in the goals. Over 2.5 goals look more than likely to be scored in this match.