Premier League: London Calling for Saturday Summit

West Ham United vs Chelsea

Premier League matches between these two can get a tad feisty.

A lunchtime affair will not make the atmosphere any less edgy either, as the east end of London hosts the west end.

Rightly or wrongly, I always get the impression the heart of the fanbases of these two clubs consider each other to have bragging rights.

One set of fans believe themselves to be core London, the raw and real version from the east end streets.

The other feel they also retain the ‘cockney’ charm but with a loftier position which, in the streets of the west end boutiques and clubs, allows them to look down their noses at their rivals.

It may be a total misrepresentation but it’s a view I have held about a section of the fanbases for a wee while.

Talking Points

At the risk of cramming decades of history into one sentence, the District Line rivals both fell in and out of obscurity across the 1970s and 1980s, bouncing between the top two tiers before establishing themselves as Premier League regulars in the 1990s.

It was 2003 when everything changed. As West Ham were being relegated, the first of two demotions with the second in 2011, Chelsea were about to embark on one of the most successful periods in English football history thanks to the arrival of new billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

Since then, pure daylight has separated the two London clubs on the pitch, ensuring that the Hammers have never really had the edge over the Blues.

To make matters worse, many of Chelsea’s greatest heroes, the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole, were all east London boys taken from West Ham.

The gap has closed a bit in recent years and West Ham will be optimistic of delivering Premier League highlights against their rivals this weekend.

They showed character to snatch a 1-1 draw at another club from the capital, Fulham, last weekend when Danny Ings scored deep in stoppage time to rescue a point.

Chelsea are currently at the eighth spot in the Premier League table — Christopher Nkunku scores the winning goal for Chelsea against Bournemouth

In truth, the Julen Lopetegui era (if it is to become one) has got off to a stuttering start with one win, one draw and two defeats in his opening four Premier League games, but there are reasons to be optimistic.

The arrival of a manager with real European pedigree, having won the Europa League with Sevilla, has naturally signalled a change in how the Hammers will shape up but the last minute Ings equaliser feels like some progress and the Hammers can take huge positives from the fighting spirit displayed late on at Craven Cottage.

Later that day, Chelsea snatched a late win at Bournemouth when two of their many expensively assembled talents combined.

Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku were the creator and scorer respectively to give Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca a welcome three points.

Only time will tell if Sancho’s deadline-day move to London will be more fruitful than his spell in Manchester. He also has the likes of Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk to compete with.

There were promising elements in the performance on the south coast, particularly in their forward movement, although the game equally exposed a number of issues in defence which may concern Maresca.

West Ham will have the firepower to exploit that which should make this compelling fare and a match either team could win, backed by their respective fans who, of course, probably have more in common than they’d like to admit.

History

East meets West has produced some classic encounters over the years.

The west (Chelsea) have won 55, the east (West Ham) 44, and there have been a further 23 draws.

Last season’s meetings both went the way of the team with home advantage.

West Ham ran out 3-1 winners in the corresponding fixture with goals from Nayef Aguerd, Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta (penalty). Carney Chukwuemeka replied for Chelsea.

It was more one-way traffic at Stamford Bridge where the hosts hit five without reply.

On that occasion, last May, Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson (two) were the goal-getters.

Chelsea have only won one of their last seven visits to the London Stadium.

That was in April 2021 when Tino Werner scored the only goal of the contest.

The very first match-up between the sides came in 1923, a goalless draw in the former Division One at Stanford Bridge.