West Ham host Chelsea at the London Stadium today in the second of three London derbies this Premier League weekend. The Hammers have endured a difficult summer thus far but now appear to be making progress in the transfer market, raising hope they can improve on last season’s domestic form.
The Blues, meanwhile, showed some promising signs during their first game under Mauricio Pochettino in a draw against Liverpool last week. While they remain a work in progress, there is fresh optimism in their ranks after such a dire last season time out.
A fiery London derby that always seems to bring the best out of West Ham, it’s going to be fascinating to see how far Pochettino has taken his new team in such a short amount of time. Follow all the action with Standard Sport’s dedicated match blog, with Nizaar Kinsella providing expert analysis from the ground!
Live updates
Nizaar Kinsella at London Stadium
Noni Madueke is a welcome face back among the substitutes. He missed the entirety of pre-season and the last match against Liverpool but showed his quality at the end of last season when Chelsea were struggling. A good option for Pochettino.
Malik Ouzia at London Stadium
We’ve just had a brass band playing Uptown Funk and Sweet Caroline. Not quite sure why. Anyway, it’s on to some highlights of a game that took place in Prague a couple of months ago. Not quite sure of the significance but seems pretty popular in here…
West Ham are showing off their Europa Conference League trophy, with it being their first home game since they won the competition last season.
The players are out for both teams, running through their pre-match preparations.
Kick off is in half an hour.
Here is Nizaar Kinsella checking in.
Lucas Paqueta is in the West Ham team to face Chelsea despite being reportedly investigated by the Football Association for potential betting rule breaches.
The Brazil midfielder is said to be shocked by the reports, which emerged on Friday, while James Ward-Prowse made his Hammers debut following his £30million switch from Southampton.
Chelsea also make just one change as Malo Gusto replaces injured captain Reece James. Chelsea’s record signing Moises Caicedo was among the substitutes.
West Ham XI
A debut for James Ward-Prowse!
Chelsea XI
Here’s how the visitors look.
Moises Caicedo is not expected to be in the starting line-up for Chelsea this afternoon.
As expected, Malo Gusto starts at right-back for Chelsea today.
