Exclusive: Frank McAvennie predicts outcome of West Ham clash v Chelsea
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie believes West Ham can earn a point away at Stamford Bridge when they play Frank Lampard’s out-of-form Chelsea.
Lampard’s men are without a win in three matches and have lost their last two Premier League games at the hands of Everton and Wolves.
West Ham, on the other hand, have won just one of their last three but will go above seventh-placed Chelsea in the Premier League standings if they can achieve victory at Stamford Bridge.
While that would be the dream outcome, McAvennie predicts that a draw is a more likely result for the Irons.
“I’ll go for a draw. [Chelsea] were beaten on Tuesday, that was a strange one,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“I’m optimistic. I think they’ll go there and get a point.”
West Ham won both of their meetings with Chelsea last season. Aaron Cresswell scored the one and only goal in the clash at Stamford Bridge but that was the first time the Hammers had won away at the Blues since 2002.
Winning there for a second consecutive time will be tough.
However, as McAvennie pointed out, Chelsea are not in the best of form at the moment.
They were very poor against Wolves on Tuesday when they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Molineux. According to Wyscout, Chelsea’s xG in that game was 1.07 and Wolves’ was 0.37 so they definitely should have won.
West Ham will be up for this game.
Claret & Hugh has reported that Fabian Balbuena should be back in the side after missing the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace in the week so that’s a major boost for the Irons.
Let’s see if Moyes’ defence can keep some of the league’s best attacking players at bay to get the draw that McAvennie has predicted.
In other West Ham news, this player has said goodbye to his team-mates ahead of a January move to the London Stadium.