After a very important 3-0 win over Southampton last weekend, West Ham have a very tough challenge this week, facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the upcoming Premier League fixture. The reverse fixture was played in December and West Ham shocked the Blues 1-0 when Marko Arnautovic put them ahead after six minutes. Arnautovic is West Ham’s leading goal scorer with nine goals in the Premier League and is leading their charge to stay out of the relegation zone.
The Hammers will come into this game on Sunday knowing the importance of the match and will have plenty of confidence after the way they played against Southampton. Arnautovic will be their best attacking threat going forward, but they can also call upon Mexican International Chicharito if they need something else up front. With the Irons unable to compete with the likes of Hazard and Willian, they will most likely need to sit back and hope to hit Chelsea on the counter through the strength and pace of Arnautovic. If they can keep Chelsea’s midfield at bay and get the ball to the Austrian in threatening positions, they can certainly get past the Blues defence.
The reigning champions have certainly had a disappointing season, sitting in 5th place at the moment, eight points off the Top four and knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16. They also suffered a defeat at home to Tottenham for the first time in 28 years at the weekend. Feeling low on confidence at the moment, they cannot afford to lose to a team in the bottom half of the table. This requires them to be firing on all cylinders and have the like of Hazard be at the top of his game. If they play as well as they should, they should be able to beat the Hammers, but football is a funny game after all.
With a look at current form and standings and considering sports betting with 1xbet, I quite fancy West Ham to be able to nick a point with this game as they fight for their survival. They will look to frustrate Chelsea throughout and as long as they stick to Moyes’s game plan and hit hard on the counter attack, they will be able to pin the Blues in. If they lack consistent defending throughout, then Chelsea will certainly punish them. With all this information, I predict the score to be 1-1 and West Ham to get a very difficult away point as they try to keep their place in the Premier League.
