Sports Blog 15/08/2016: Premier League Preview – Chelsea vs West Ham, Monday 15th August 2016

It’s the first all-London affair of the new Premier League season, with Chelsea hosting West Ham at 8pm on Sky Sports 1!

Following last year’s woeful title defence it won’t take much for Antonio Conte to spark an improvement at Chelsea. However, even coming off of a dismal 10th place finish, the Blues’ lowest for 20 years, and fierce competition from the two Manchester clubs, the pressure will still be on the Italian to win the league on the first time of asking.



So far the signs are good. Chelsea had a relatively strong pre-season, one that included victories over Liverpool and AC Milan, while the signings Conte has made could end up proving to be the best business of the transfer window done by any club. Michy Batshuayi, only 22 years old and coming off an impressive Euro 2016, should provide some much needed assistance up front for the too-often non-plussed Diego Costa, and heads into Monday’s game at a respectable Super Mega PGM of 34-40 to the Spaniard’s 36-42. And for all your Pogbas, Ibras, Sanes and Stones, Chelsea’s snaffling of N’Golo Kante could well end up being the signing of the season.

As for West Ham their season has already got underway, the club paying the penalty for only finishing in 7th place in 2015/16. A shock away leg loss to Slovenia’s Domzale in the Europa League 3rd qualifying round was recovered in the first competitive fixture at the Olympic Stadium, the Hammers emphatically winning 3-0 thanks to a brace from Cheikhou Kouyate and an account-opener from summer signing Sofiane Feghouli. That set up a play-off tie against Astra Giurgiu, in Romania, this Thursday, something that could give Slaven Bilic some selection headaches to contend with.



Dimitri Payet definitely won’t start as he recovers from Euro 2016, while Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini are both out thanks to knee injuries. That could, however, give some of Bilic’s new signings a chance to shine. As mentioned Feghouli, who played for Valencia last season, has already scored his first goal for West Ham, and heads into Monday’s match at a Super Mega PGM of 5-8. The Hammers’ most expensive signing this summer, Andre Ayew, who cost the club £20.5 million from Swansea, looks a bit more likely to score, going into his potential debut at a Super Mega PGM of 9-12.

Through a combination of injury, new personnel and post-Euros fatigue that are many things in flux for both sides ahead of their meeting at Stamford Bridge. Our traders appear to be expecting a comfortable home win, however, offering a Chelsea/West Ham Goal Supremacy spread of 1-1.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.75-2.95.