Chelsea vs West Ham preview, team news, kick-off, prediction

Hakim Ziyech, Michail Antonio face fitness tests; follow Chelsea vs West Ham on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 7.30pm on Monday; kick-off 8pm

Monday 21 December 2020 20:59, UK

Team news and stats ahead of Chelsea vs West Ham in the Premier League on Monday, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech will face late fitness tests ahead of Chelsea's Premier League clash with West Ham on Monday.

The wingers have both been sidelined with hamstring problems, but were back in full training for the first time on Friday.

Boss Frank Lampard will run the rule over both players at the last minute though, to see whether they will be ready to face the Hammers.

West Ham will check on Michail Antonio and Fabian Balbuena.

Antonio is battling to recover from the hamstring injury which has kept him out of the last three matches and Balbuena missed Wednesday's 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace due to a minor knock.

Arthur Masuaku is out following knee surgery.

How to follow

Chelsea vs West Ham will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 7.45pm on Saturday; kick-off at 8pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Free highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

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At least 146 Premier League games will be shown live on Sky Sports in the 2020/21 season. The Premier League has further increased the number of televised games this season from 200 to 231, with over half of the extra fixtures set to be shown live on Sky Sports.

Overall, Sky Sports will be showing at least 146 Premier League matches live throughout the 2020/21 season, continuing to bring you all the latest twists, turns and shocks at the home of the Premier League. There will also be two additional midweek programmes - one will be played across the weeks commencing January 11 and 18 and the second will be in the week commencing May 10. All of these games will be broadcast live.

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Jones Knows prediction

Some may have this down as another banana skin for Chelsea. Not me.

Frank Lampard has so many attacking options available to him, it's easy for him to take an out-of-form player out of the limelight and replace him with a top-quality replacement. Timo Werner and Kai Havertz have looked a little jaded in recent weeks so freshening it up with Callum Hudson-Odoi or Hakim Zieych should kick Chelsea back into gear. Plus, Christian Pulisic showed moments of real quality in the defeat at Wolves - he might be about to hit top form.

Lampard: No regrets over Rice

This is going to sound ridiculous after what he did on Wednesday night, but West Ham won't be going anywhere fast with Sebastien Haller leading the line. In games where they have to sit back, his hold-up play isn't anywhere near the levels of Michail Antonio, who makes the pitch so big for West Ham and takes the pressure off his defenders.

In fairness, the Hammers have won four of the last six games with Haller leading the line so I might be talking complete nonsense. However, they lacked imagination against Crystal Palace and in the win over Aston Villa - a theory backed up by a combined xG figure of just 1.08 in those matches. No problems for Chelsea expected.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 2-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

Chelsea have lost just one of their last 14 Premier League home games against West Ham (W9 D4), though it was in this exact fixture last season (0-1). They've not lost back-to-back home league games against the Hammers since February 1996.
West Ham won home and away against Chelsea in the Premier League last season, and are looking to win three in a row against the Blues in the top-flight for the first time since a run of four between September 1972 and March 1974.
Chelsea have lost their final league match before Christmas in just two of their last 30 seasons (W19 D9), losing to Leeds United in 1999 and Leicester City in 2018.
West Ham's final league match before Christmas last season was a 1-0 win over Southampton - the Hammers haven't gone into Christmas with a win in consecutive seasons since doing so three years in a row between 1978 and 1980.
When scoring at least once, Chelsea have lost just one of their last 38 Premier League home games (W27 D10), with that defeat coming at the hands of Liverpool last season (1-2). The Blues are unbeaten in their last 16 league games in which they've scored at Stamford Bridge (W14 D2).
Chelsea have lost their last two Premier League games, with the Blues last losing three in a row in the competition back in November 2015.
West Ham have gained five points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, including their 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace last time out. The Hammers only won five points from behind in the whole of the 2019-20 campaign.
West Ham have won their last two Premier League away games, as many as they had in their previous 14 on the road (D3 L9). The Hammers last won three consecutively on the road in the competition back in December 2018.
Frank Lampard is looking to avoid becoming the first Chelsea manager to lose his first three league encounters with West Ham, while only three managers have lost their first three Premier League games against the Hammers: Danny Wilson (1997-98), Sean Dyche (2014-16) and Ralph Hasenhüttl (2018-19).
West Ham manager David Moyes has never won a Premier League match at Stamford Bridge (P15 D7 L8) - the only instance in Premier League history of a manager taking charge of more games at a stadium without winning is Moyes himself at Anfield (16 games).

Pitch to Post Preview: Ancelotti and Arteta's first years assessed; Plus Gareth Bale and Dele Alli latest, and why Leeds could trouble Man Utd

This week on the Pitch to Post Preview Podcast, Peter Smith is joined by Sky Sports News reporter Alan Myers and Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith to analyse Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta's work at Everton and Arsenal, ahead of their one year anniversaries.

Who has done the better job? We also hear from SSN reporter Paul Gilmour on whether Tottenham will bounce back from a frustrating week against Leicester - and the latest on Gareth Bale's fitness and Dele Alli's future.

Plus Sky Sports feature writer Nick Wright assesses Man Utd's 3-2 win at Sheffield United and makes his Pitch for why Leeds could upset Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side at Old Trafford…

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