Chelsea Match Preview

In his eighteen league games in Stratford since taking over from Julen Lopetegui in January, Graham Potter has only won two. He will be hoping to improve on his current record during the 2025/26 campaign and after starting the season with defeat at newly-promoted Sunderland six days earlier, here’s hoping for a better outcome when Chelsea arrive in the East End tonight.

The Hammers haven’t won here since 27 February when they beat then newly-promoted club Leicester City 2-0 so they will be hoping to atone for the 3-0 reverse on Wearside and make it a memorable night for the home faithful under the lights.

Chelsea provided the opposition at the same stage of the 2023/24 campaign and we all know what happened that day. The hosts certainly wouldn’t mind a repeat here to get them up and running.

Enzo Maresca’s side haven’t really had much of a summer break. After winning the UEFA Europa Conference League in May, that momentum continued, as they then went on to win the FIFA Club World Cup and then claimed the scalps of both Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan at home in what was a very short pre-season.

However, that winning formula didn’t carry over into their season opener, as they were held to a goalless draw when Crystal Palace visited Stamford Bridge just five days ago.

With that in mind, Potter’s men may fancy their chances here, due to the fact that they have had one extra day’s preparation.

The Irons Head-Coach will know that three points tonight will stand them in good stead going into Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup second-round tie away at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Former boss David Moyes had a decent record against tonight’s opponents and although last season’s corresponding fixture ended in a 3-0 triumph for the visitors, this is a new start for the home side, so who knows what will happen.

Both Kyle Walker-Peters and Callum Wilson will be hoping to make their full competitive debuts for the club, whilst Potter may also want to make changes in midfield with Tomáš Souček and Edson Álvarez pushing for starts after both were involved in the matchday squad against the Black Cats at The Stadium of Light last time out. Mads Hermansen is expected to retain his place in goal.

Guido Rodríguez is likely to be the one that misses out on a place in the starting line-up, whilst youngster Freddie Potts could again be on the bench. Potter revealed in his pre-match news conference ahead of this encounter on Thursday that fellow youngster George Earthy is back in training following an injury sustained in pre-season but he won’t feature here, having said that, neither will Luis Guilherme, who is also out with a shoulder injury.

The match is an 8pm kick-off with live coverage being screened by Sky Sports from 7pm. The referee is Michael Oliver.