Chelsea vs West Ham Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Chelsea had an absolutely disastrous season last year. They were verging as relegation candidates by the time December rolled around, with none of the players performing and Jose Mourinho seemingly losing his mind. Eventually Mourinho was sacked, and Chelsea’s go-to interim manager Guus Hiddink took charge.

Ultimately he turned a disastrous season into just a disappointment, with the dethroned Premier League champions coming in,in 10th position with 50 points from their 38 games.

Antonio Conte has now been brought in to Stamford Bridge in a bid to reclaim their Premier League title, and he certainly impressed in Euro 2016 as he led a lackluster looking Italy team to wins over Belgium and Spain. His animated style of management is sure to bring about some interesting moments as well.

Conte has come in and started rebuilding the Chelsea squad that has become laden with medium quality players recently. Mohamed Salah, Papy Djilobodjil and Stipe Perica have all left the club and made way for the talented and powerful Michy Batshuayi and one of the standout performers in the Premier League last season N’Golo Kante. They are also chasing the £75 million rated Romelu Lukaku, who they let leave for just £30 million to Everton.

Pre-season has gone fairly well for Conte and company, with them beating Wolfsberger, Liverpool, AC Milan, and Werder Bremen, although they did lose to Rapid Wien and Real Madrid.

West Ham had an excellent season, but in the end they were let down as they ran out of steam towards the end of the campaign. They were genuine challengers for a top four spot until their dip in form, with them eventually finishing in 7th position with 62 points from 38 games. This left them four points off the top four in the end.

The big news for West Ham is that they have managed to hang on to the incredible Dimitri Payet and manager Slaven Bilic this summer, and they have been looking to bolster their squad with a big money striker in the last few weeks. As of yet that hasn’t happened, but their squad as a whole is looking formidable. The arrival of Gokhan Tore and Andre Ayew both provide some additional quality on the wings too.

Both of these sides have some genuine quality going forward, and that’s backed up by their scoring records. Chelsea have only failed to score once in their last 11 games and have the same record for home Premier League games. West Ham have scored in 23 of their last 25 matches in all competitions and in nine of their last ten away days in the Premier League.

This makes odds of 19/20 for Both Teams to Score look incredibly good value, and that’s what I’m backing. I think Chelsea will be able to grind out the win though, so I’m going for a 2-1 Chelsea win for my correct score prediction at 8/1.