Chelsea vs West Ham United Preview

Chelsea host West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening in a Premier League London derby that sees both sides arriving in confident form. The Blues have dominated this fixture in recent years, winning four of the last five encounters, and will be looking to extend that dominance on home soil.

Chelsea enter this contest in excellent form. Their most recent outing saw them claim a 3-2 victory away at Napoli in the Champions League. Prior to that, they won 3-1 away at Crystal Palace in the Premier League and secured a 1-0 home victory over Pafos in Europe. Earlier in this sequence, they beat Brentford 2-0 at home and lost 3-2 at home to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup. The Blues have won four of their last five matches across all competitions, demonstrating their quality in both domestic and European action.

West Ham arrive at Stamford Bridge also in positive form. Their most recent match ended in a 3-1 home victory over Sunderland in the Premier League. Prior to that, they won 2-1 away at Tottenham and secured a 2-1 home triumph over QPR in the FA Cup. Earlier in this run, they lost 2-1 at home to Nottingham Forest and suffered a 3-0 defeat away at Wolverhampton. The Hammers have collected three wins from their last five outings, showing resilience despite some defensive concerns.

The head-to-head record strongly favours Chelsea, who have won four of the last five meetings. Most recently, Chelsea claimed a dominant 5-1 away victory in August 2025 and also won 2-1 at home in February 2025. West Ham’s only victory in this sequence came with a 3-1 home win in August 2023.

Chelsea are expected to field a 4-2-3-1 formation with Sánchez in goal, while West Ham will likely deploy their 4-4-1-1 system with Areola between the posts. Both teams face significant injury challenges that could influence selection decisions and tactical approaches.

The match kicks off at 17:30 GMT on Saturday, 31st January 2026. Fans can watch the action on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League in Great Britain, Sky Go and WOW in Germany, DAZN1 Portugal in Portugal, and Stan Sport in Australia.

Possible Line-Ups:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sánchez, Cucurella, Badiashile, Caicedo, Neto, Chalobah, Santos, Fernández, Pedro, Estêvão, James

West Ham United (4-4-1-1) Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Soucek, Castellanos, Pablo, Fernandes, Todibo, Summerville, Diouf, BowerMan

Injured Players:

Chelsea: Tosin Adarabioyo (Out), Dário Essugo (Out), Levi Colwill (Out), Roméo Lavia (Out), Mykhailo Mudryk (Out)

West Ham United: Lukasz Fabianski (Out)

Chelsea face a significant injury crisis with five players ruled out, severely depleting their defensive and midfield options. West Ham will be without goalkeeper Fabianski, but they’re in considerably better shape than their hosts regarding team availability.

Chelsea – Last 5 Matches (All Competitions)

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
W	Napoli	2-3	Chelsea	Champions League	Jan 28, 2026
W	Crystal Palace	1-3	Chelsea	English Premier League	Jan 25, 2026
W	Chelsea	1-0	Pafos	Champions League	Jan 21, 2026
W	Chelsea	2-0	Brentford	English Premier League	Jan 17, 2026
L	Chelsea	2-3	Arsenal	English Carabao Cup	Jan 14, 2026

West Ham United – Last 5 Matches (All Competitions)

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
W	West Ham United	3-1	Sunderland	English Premier League	Jan 24, 2026
W	Tottenham Hotspur	1-2	West Ham United	English Premier League	Jan 17, 2026
W	West Ham United	2-1	Queens Park Rangers	English FA Cup	Jan 11, 2026
L	West Ham United	1-2	Nottingham Forest	English Premier League	Jan 6, 2026
L	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3-0	West Ham United	English Premier League	Jan 3, 2026

Head To Head Record

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
West Ham United	1-5	Chelsea	English Premier League	Aug 22, 2025
Chelsea	2-1	West Ham United	English Premier League	Feb 3, 2025
West Ham United	0-3	Chelsea	English Premier League	Sep 21, 2024
Chelsea	5-0	West Ham United	English Premier League	May 5, 2024
West Ham United	3-1	Chelsea	English Premier League	Aug 20, 2023

TV Listings / Streaming

Country	Broadcaster
Great Britain	Sky Go UK, NOW, SKY GO Extra, Sky Ultra HD, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League
Germany	Sky Go, WOW, Sky Sport Premier League
Portugal	DAZN1 Portugal, DAZN Portugal
Australia	Stan Sport
USA	USA Network, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, UNIVERSO, UNIVERSO NOW
Spain	DAZN Spain
Italy	SKY Go Italia, Sky Sport Uno, NOW TV
France	Canal+ Foot, myCANAL, Canal+ Live 5