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By Dan Tracey
The Hammers will be keen to build on their point at Fulham, the Blues will certainly be keen to build on their win at Bournemouth.
Contrasting fortunes, then, for the two crosstown rivals and were it not for Danny Ings’ injury time equaliser at Craven Cottage, there would have been even greater variance in the two respective results from last Saturday.
With West Ham now being placed under the stewardship of Julen Lopetegui, the former Wolves manager is still trying to work out how to get the best out his newly inherited charges and with a slew of new signings also needing to be integrated, it does feel like a work in progress at present.
One which has seen the London Stadium outfit win just one of their first four league outings of the season and with their sole victory to date coming against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, the first thing Lopetegui and his players need to do is turn their home into more of a fortress.
Home defeats to both Aston Villa and Manchester City are already in the 2024/25 edition of the history books and although you can offer the mitigating circumstance of difficult opposition, the overall start to West Ham’s campaign has been largely underwhelming.
Not the same level of criticism that can be attached to Chelsea at present, and after suffering an opening weekend defeat at home to Manchester City, the Blues have since gone on a three-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Seven points from the last nine on offer has removed some early season pressure off the shoulders of manager Enzo Maresca and although they rode their luck at Bournemouth last weekend, their luck was in thanks to Christopher Nkunku’s late winner.
The former RB Leipzig forward came of the substitutes bench to score the game’s only goal with just four minutes remaining and in doing so, made a strong case to be in the starting eleven at West Ham this Saturday lunchtime.
However, with the depth of talent that manager Maresca can call upon at present, many other names will also be keen to avoid the substitutes bench and it is that strength in depth that may end up giving Chelsea the edge at the London Stadium.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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