Four of Chelsea’s five upcoming matches in all competitions are at Stamford Bridge, starting this weekend. At the dawn of the season, with no win in three at home, that might not have been so enticing a prospect.

Since then, though, the Blues have won each of past three without conceding. The last time the Bridge witnessed four or more victories in a row, all with a clean sheet, was in January of the title-winning 2014/15 season. The fourth game back then was against this weekend’s visitors, West Ham.

The Blues are currently unbeaten over the past 13 home Premier League meetings with the Hammers (comprising nine wins and four draws), who have lost their way after an impressive start to the campaign.

A seven-game winless league run has left them perilously close to the drop-zone and the visitors have lost their past three games, matched on each occasion by three goals conceded, and Frank Lampard will want his men to show no mercy against the club where he first made his way in the game. After all, the midfielder netted six times in his last half-dozen matches against them himself.

Capital punishment

This is the Blues’ 250th Premier League London derby, though only the second of the 2019/20 campaign. The Hammers have lost more of those than any local rival, and defeat on Saturday would be their 100th.

Reasons to be cheerful

Although last weekend’s performance at the Etihad cut Chelsea’s string of six successive league victories, there were positives to be taken from the 1-2 defeat.

The Blues finished with 53.3 per cent possession of the ball, the highest recorded against any top-flight side managed by Pep Guardiola. The Catalan generously praised Frank Lampard’s team describing the midfield three as ‘the masters’ at reading an opponent’s pass and making the interception.

He may even be underplaying N’Golo Kante’s contribution. Following his goalscoring performance in Manchester, the France middleman has attempted seven shots in the top flight. Three of those (43 per cent) have been on target and each one resulted in a goal.

Frank Lampard was concerned with the performance more than the result in Valencia, which leaves qualification in our hands: beat Lille on Matchday 6 and Chelsea are in the hat for the Round of 16.A draw in Amsterdam between Ajax and Valencia and victory for Chelsea at home to Lille would mean the Blues finishing top of Champions League Group H.

It was a huge concern to see top scorer Tammy Abraham in pain after being hauled down in the box at the Mestalla. Hopefully the injury proves minor. Especially as the England striker has opened the scoring five times in Premier League matches for Chelsea, who have struck first on 11 occasions, more than any rival club.

Premier League top scorers

Jamie Vardy 12Tammy Abraham 10Sergio Aguero 9Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8Sadio Mane 8

After opening the scoring in Spain, Mateo Kovacic is now only 210 thumb-nose celebrations behind Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer, who is now of course his coach.

The more prolific Christian Pulisic’s goal meant he has hit the target six times in his past seven matches – a blessing for Captain America to savour while he was carving the turkey for Thanksgiving yesterday.

However, Chelsea’s inability to convert further good goalscoring opportunities might have proved more costly on Wednesday. OPTA statistics rank the Blues only 17th among Premier League clubs on conversion rate of ‘big chances’, with Tottenham leading the way at 54.2 per cent scored. West Ham are rated 14th in that regard, and also manage marginally higher percentage of shots on target.

FA Cup catch-up

The draw for round three of the FA Cup, the entry point for clubs including 2017/18 winners Chelsea, will take place from 7pm on Monday on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

West Ham moves

Until they rolled up at the London Stadium early this month, Newcastle were the only Premier League side yet to score from a set-play this season. All three goals in the Geordies’ 3-2 victory over the Hammers then came from such situations and at the moment, only Everton and Aston Villa have conceded more times from set-pieces than the Hammers’ six this season.

Goalkeeper Roberto continues to deputise for Manuel Pellegrini’s injured no.1 Lukasz Fabianski and the suspension of ever-present defender Issa Diop this weekend will not help.

Presumably with that absence in mind, Pellegrini moved Declan Rice back to centre-half during the defeat at Tottenham last weekend, Carlos Sanchez taking the England man’s place in central midfield.

While some of West Ham’s most creative players may have lacked form or fitness, the returning Michail Antonio sprang off the bench against Spurs like a one-man army, mixing deftness with physicality. Chelsea will also need to be wary of Robert Snodgrass’s blind-side runs behind defenders.

West Ham also have a small collection of players who have played against Chelsea sides in Europe. First there was former Dynamo Kiev winger Andriy Yarmolenko, and now they have club-record signing Sebastien Haller.

The French forward almost turned the Europa League semi-final second leg in Frankfurt’s favour as an extra-time sub at the Bridge last season, and has four goals and one assist to his name so far in England.

Liverpool calendar clash has Hammers impact

Leaders Liverpool have been staring at a crammed calendar from last weekend till the New Year, with as many as 12 matches to navigate over 36 days.

The fixtures congestion includes a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Villa in Birmingham fewer than 24 hours ahead of their FIFA Club World Cup semi-final match 3,000 miles away on 18 December.

The Reds were due to play West Ham at the London Stadium on the 21st, but that has been postponed. Should Jurgen Klopp’s men reach the final in Qatar, as seems likely, they will play that on the 21st instead, and face a Boxing Day trip to Leicester after an eight-hour flight home.

The Merseysiders currently have a points buffer in their lead at the top, but the delayed game and any potential points could mean more psychologically to the Hammers, who are at present just one place and three points above the relegation places.

Coming up

Aston Villa, four points above the relegation zone, are away to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, three days ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge.

Unbeaten WSL leaders Chelsea Women are away to fourth-placed Everton this Sunday from 12.30pm. Man City, who lie second, host bottom club Liverpool later that day.

Chelsea Under-21s travel to the Bescot Stadium, home of League Two Walsall, in the last 32 of the Leasing.com Trophy on Tuesday. It is a pay-on-the-day event, with tickets priced at £10, £5 concessions.

Stand that delivered

Meanwhile it is time to raise a cup of Bovril to the oldest part of the ‘Chelsea Village’ redevelopment, the Matthew Harding stand. It opened as the North Stand 25 years ago on 26 November 1994, and was renamed in tribute to the Chelsea director after his tragic death in October 1996. The opening of that first tranche of the redevelopment increased permanent capacity at the Bridge, and 31,161 were present for the Boxing Day visit of Manchester United.

Premier League fixtures

SaturdayNewcastle v Manchester City 12.30pm (BT Sport)Burnley v Crystal Palace 3pmChelsea v West Ham 3pmLiverpool v Brighton 3pmTottenham v Bournemouth 3pmSouthampton v Watford 5.30pm (Sky Sports)

SundayNorwich v Arsenal 2pm (Sky Sports)Wolves v Sheffield United 2pmLeicester v Everton 4.30pm (Sky Sports)Manchester United v Aston Villa 4.30pm

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