Not the most historically important, but far from easy for the rivals London derby will be held on Saturday with the participation of West Ham United and Chelsea. The capital clubs have different status and bookmakers' expectations for the upcoming season, but now in the middle of the standings are separated by only three points, which have every chance of levelling at the end of this fight. So far, West Ham have not picked up points with the favourites, against whom they had to play in a month of the current season. At the same time, Chelsea can not be compared with Manchester City or Aston Villa, to whom the "Hammers" lost in the first round. "Blues" represent England in the current draw of the Conference League, as a consequence of the final sixth place in the past draw of the Premier League. Bookmakers have identified the guests as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 2.05 on their victory.

West Ham in the off-season spent almost 145 million euros on the transfer market - three times more than earned. Van Bissaka, Guilherme, Füllkrug, Summerville and Kilman, who is expected to become the leader of the Hammers' defence, joined the team. In the opening game of the season, West Ham hosted Aston Villa, with whom they played on equal terms. Despite this, the Villans were luckier, scoring a goal more. In the second round, the approximate equality in the game with Crystal Palace led to the last victory of West Ham - 2:0. The subsequent meeting was lost to Manchester City because of a hat-trick by Holland (1:3), and the match of the last round did not end with the defeat of the "Hammers" only because of their goal on 90+5 minutes. The hosts definitely need a win over a strong or star opponent to normalise their psychological state.

Chelsea also lost to Manchester City earlier in the season. That defeat remains the only one for the Blues in the league so far, but the opposite statistic is also important. Of the six official meetings of the season, only one ended with a confident victory for Chelsea, when the team defeated the local team of the same name in Wolverhampton. In this regard, it is difficult to imagine an easy victory for Chelsea in the upcoming meeting. The opponents for Saturday's match have exchanged goals in the last three matches at West Ham. Let's bet on a similar outcome.