Chelsea vs West Ham: Form Guide, Player To Watch, Betting Tips & More…

Another weekend of pulsating Premier League action is upon us, here’s our betting preview for West Ham’s visit to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.

Preview

Chelsea welcome London rivals West Ham to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon looking to open the gap between themselves and the chasing pack as the race for a top-four finish intensifies. Everton and Arsenal have put the pressure on after picking up victories over Man City and Swansea on Saturday, with the Gunners now just two points adrift, so Rafa Benitez knows victory today is vital to restore their five-point advantage.

The Blues will also be keen to regain third place from Spurs but with the north Londoner playing prior to the Blues game today they’ll have to rely on Andre Villas-Boas men dropping points at home to Fulham to have a chance of leapfrogging them into third place.

Previous meetings

The Hammers put in a superb second half performance at Upton Park back in December to come from a goal down to run out 3-1 winners. Midfielder Mohammed Diame was the inspiration that day, coming off the bench to drive Sam Allardyce’s men to the three points and Chelsea will no doubt keep a close eye on the Senegalese enforcer this time around.

League form guide

Chelsea are in mixed form heading into the game having lost 2, drawn 1 and won 3 in their last 6 Premier League games. The Blues have had plenty of cup competitions to contend with as well in recent months and will be buoyed by their 3-1 win over Steaua Bucharest on Thursday night that followed last Sunday’s comeback against Man Utd in the FA Cup.

The Hammers won 1-0 at Stoke City last weekend but that was just their second win in six, with Sam Allardyce’s men tasting defeat in the other four games.

Bettings tips

We enjoy a bet or two here at Football-Talk towers and we think it’s important to do research before handing over our hard-earned cash. That’s why we use Betegy.com, which is a great resource that uses statistical data to come up with free accurate football predictions each week.

The software has crunched the numbers and their algorithm predicts a victory for Chelsea with a home win seem as a strong 46% shot, the draw comes out at 35% with the Hammers having just a 19% chance of winning the game. Paddy Power are currently offering odds of 2/5 for a Chelsea win, but we like to look for a little more value with our bets.

Betegy also predicts the exact score and their software predicts a 2-0 win for the Blues, which is a far more tempting 13/2 shot with Paddy Power. So that would be our tip for the game.

Why not head over to Betegy and see what all the fuss is about? It’s free to join and you’ll receive free and accurate predictions for games throughout Europe every week. They have an excellent success rate so far so why not give it a try?

Player to watch – Frank Lampard: Super Frank didn’t feature against Steaua in midweek so you’d expect him to start today against his former club. Chelsea’s No.8 has continued to defy his critics this season and with 13 goals in 33 starts he’s once again proving to be one of the best goal-scoring midfielders in the Premiership.

I’d expect Lampard to play a key role in today’s game and back him to score his 200th Chelsea goal against his boyhood club. Paddy Power are offering odds of 6/1 that Lampard will be the first goalscorer, and along with the Blues to win 2-0, those would be our two betting tips for this fixture. But if you want a small flutter on a bet with some serious value, then combine the two bets and back Lampard to score first in a 2-0 win which you can back at odds of 25/1 at Paddy Power.

What would be your score predictions for the game and who would be your player to watch? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.