Chris Sutton predicts West Ham United vs Chelsea result for BBC Sport, hails Nayef Aguerd influence
Chris Sutton has predicted West Ham to record another draw when Chelsea visit the London Stadium this weekend, while singling out Nayef Aguerd as key.
The Hammers fought back for a point at Newcastle last weekend (4 February), with the Moroccan summer signing proving crucial, not least with his stunning last-ditch tackle to deny Callum Wilson a second goal.
Despite struggling for most of the season David Moyes’ side have show signs of a revival of late, and Sutton expects it to be a fourth game unbeaten when big-spending Chelsea travel across London on Saturday (11 February) with another 1-1 result.
He said in his BBC Sport predictions column this week: “Chelsea have kept clean sheets in their past three games but they also don’t score many – they have only found the net once in that time.
“West Ham are hardly free-scoring either, so I doubt the goals will be flying in at Saturday lunchtime… Aguerd has made a big difference for them at the back, after they had lots of problems in defence when he was injured at the start of the season.
“Every time I write West Ham off, they get something from the game so the bad news for Hammers fans is that I am going for the points to be shared this time.”
Tough
It’s better than nothing but Moyes surely has his players looking for all three points for this London derby, given the fact that Chelsea have barely scored since New Year and Aguerd is proving his transfer fee a price worth paying.
If the Hammers can keep Graham Potters disjointed team out then a third victory from the last four meetings between the sides in Stratford has to be a possibility.
The defence has been through all sorts of iterations this year thanks to injuries and transfers, and while Thilo Kehrer and Angelo Ogbonna left plenty to be desired as they allowed Wilson in to score at St James’ Park, the three-man unit alongside summer signing Aguerd tightened up significantly thereafter.
It feels like this side has been a work in progress all season, and it remains a long way off where it was supposed to be this campaign.
But there have been some encouraging signs in the past few games, so a positive result against Chelsea would add to that and continue a run without defeat that is much-needed.
A loss would dump West Ham back into the same mess they keep finding themselves in this year, and quite likely in the relegation zone.
But there is very little between the Irons and a handful of clubs above them, so stringing a few positive results can lift them out of trouble in a short space of time.