Chelsea vs West Ham
The last match in the opening round of the Premier League is a London derby at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea take on West Ham in what has the potential to be an exciting clash between two sides looking to be up towards the top end of the table at the end of the season.
We will see the third new manager from the top clubs get their Premier League tenure underway when Antonio Conte leads Chelsea for the first time in competitive football. West Ham had a great season last year and will be out to prove that wasn’t a flash in the pan.
Chelsea
We all know last year was a shocker for Chelsea and it will be interesting to see whether we see a continuation of that of whether the champion side of 2014-15 returns. I don’t personally believe Chelsea will be as bad again and having seen the likes of Man Utd and Man City put markers down they will be looking to respond.
The big thing for neutrals is to see whether Chelsea adopt a more defensive style which Italian coaches are famous for or whether Antonio Conte can get the best out of the plethora of attacking flair he has at his disposal and make Chelsea the entertaining side they can be but we’ve not been able to seen.
West Ham
Attacking flair is something West Ham have in spades as we saw last season and if anything they look to have added even more of it in pre-season. They don’t have as much of a defensive stability as you would expect a side managed by a former international centre-back to have but that is fine because flair is the demand of those involved with the club.
There is no doubt West Ham are on the up as a club. They play their first Premier League game in their new home next week and are signing a decent calibre of player. Last season they started off in sensational form away from home and beat Arsenal in their first game. Something they will hope to repeat albeit in a more western part of the capital.
Team News
Chelsea are expected to give a debut to N’Golo Kante after his high profile move from Leicester. Michy Batshuayi could make a debut but it could be from the bench. Kurt Zouma is out with a long term injury.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has confirmed that Dimitri Payet isn’t fit for 90 minutes but he didn’t commit to whether the playmaker would start the game or come from the bench. Sofiane Feghouli and Andre Ayew could make competitive debuts but Aaron Cresswell is a long term injury victim. Manuel Lanzini is also out.
Betting
This isn’t the easiest match to bet on with the change in management at Chelsea so I’m going to tread a little carefully. There is something about the match which makes me feel a little uneasy taking Chelsea at no bigger than 4/6 but I’m not sure I’m completely keen on backing West Ham either.
One thing I do fancy in the match is for both sides to have a bit of a go. A trend of this fixture list so far has been both sides finding the net and I believe that is likely here too. So far in this round of matches only two of the nine matches haven’t seen both find the net and with the attacking core of both sides I fully expect this to be an eighth game out of the 10.
West Ham love to counter attack while Chelsea will be out to please their fans and restore some pride and belief back among them so this one is all teed up to see both sides scoring before the match is over and done with.
Tips
WON – Back Both teams to score for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with Boylesports
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