Chelsea vs West Ham in the Premier League on Apr 24.2022 - Odds & Prediction

With West Ham coming into this game with poor away form, it will be music to the ears of the Chelsea squad, and it is also of great interest to me before looking at the best betting sites online.

Because there are a number of tempting markets to consider before the weekend and although a Chelsea win looks like being the direction of travel, I think I can make things just a little more interesting.

Therefore, I think Chelsea will manage to win at Stamford Bridge with a -1 handicap attached to them and if you think that this will also be the case, you can join me in backing this outcome at odds of 3/2 (bet365).

With Chelsea now in the FA Cup final, this will now be their only hope for silverware at the end of the season and although it would be easy to down tools in the Premier League, that will not be allowed by manager Thomas Tuchel.

Because this same group of players will be looking for a starting berth in next month’s showpiece event and with plenty of options for Tuchel to call upon, anyone not pulling their weight will be left on the sidelines.

Then again, Chelsea must still make sure that 3rd place in the Premier League is secured and although it looks highly unlikely that Champions League football will pass them by next season, collapses at this stage of the campaign have been seen before.

Which is something that the Chelsea manager will be aware of, as it was his own side who made perfect use of Leicester’s own decline last year and with the pitfalls being as obvious as they are, now is not the time to take the foot of the pedal.

Of course, Chelsea are still playing among the backdrop of ownership issues and although this could have quite easily derailed the club, results have largely been positive since this all unfolded.

Although West Ham still can consider themselves contenders in the race for a top-four finish, they must surely be the outsiders in the race and although that would perhaps be something of a disappointment to manager David Moyes, there is also reason to be cheerful.

Because with the Hammers now in the last four of the Europa League, the Champions League is now in touching distance and with only three games of the competition left to potentially navigate, this also offers a much shorter route to Europe’s top table.

Which gives the West Ham boss something to ponder and although earning a top-four finish would be a hugely successful achievement, winning European silverware would certainly trump that.

Therefore, Moyes may now decide that now is time to wave the white flag in terms of automatic Champions League qualification and instead wrap up his biggest names in cotton wool.

Especially as a meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt is just around the corner and as much as West Ham would love to beat Chelsea at the weekend, they would love to progress in the Europa League even more.

When it comes to the history of Chelsea and West Ham, it is the Blues who have come out on top more often than not and with this being of the feistiest affairs when it comes to London derbies, there will be no love lost on Sunday.

In terms of their overall head-to-head record, Chelsea have won on 52 occasions, West Ham 43 and there have been 22 draws.

Stamford Bridge opened in 1877 and holds up to 40,853 supporters.

Although there have been plans to expand the capacity of Stamford Bridge, these plans have run into countless issues and with both funding and spare land being an issue, Chelsea’s home ground has stayed at just over 40,000 when it comes to capacity.

While with Chelsea's ownership status also up in the air, it may well be down to new owners to solve this issue and if the next owner has rather deep pockets, even a new ground could eventually be built for the Blues.

When it comes to the Premier League outright odds for a top-four finish, Chelsea are all but over the line and now it may make sense to consider backing them for success in the FA Cup instead.

While when it comes to West Ham, there are still a number of options when it comes to backing them in the outright markets and therefore, a win in West London would only aid their bid for a top-six finish at the end of this season.