WEST HAM UNITED and Chelsea both earned draws last week and have made big moves in the transfer market this week ahead of Sunday's London derby.
The Hammers conceded a late goal at Bournemouth and while the Europa Conference League champions will have been frustrated with that, they at last moved to spend their Declan Rice transfer money.
After a difficult summer with question marks over David Moyes' future, over £60 million was invested in the arrival of midfield duo James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez from Southampton and Ajax.
But of course that faded into insignificance when Chelsea splashed out a whopping £115 million to land Brighton's Moises Caicedo to take their summer spending past the £300 million barrier.
Last week, they went toe-for-toe with Liverpool and recovered well after a sluggish start to rescue a deserved point in what was an entertaining clash at Stamford Bridge.
Both sides will look for far better domestic campaigns this term with West Ham embroiled in a relegation battle and Chelsea mid-table also-rans in a nightmare season.
How the bookies view it
Chelsea are odds-on with nearly all firms although 888sport stick their neck out to go evens on an away win.
West Ham can be backed at 31/10 with BetVictor and the draw is 13/5 with bet365.
Recent head to heads
Last season, the sides drew 1-1 at the London Stadium while Chelsea edged a home win 2-1.
The season before it was a home win apiece.
Players to watch
Even in a truly dismal campaign for Southampton last term, new signing James Ward-Prowse still managed 11 goals for the Saints. He is 13/2 to mark his Hammers bow with a goal at bet365.
Chelsea paid just over £30 million to Villarreal for Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson and he looked a real hard-working handful last week against Liverpool. He is 15/8 to score anytime with bet365.
Anything else catch the eye?
It would take a brave punter to lump on to a new-look Chelsea side at evens or odds-on here and there are still plenty of questions to be answered by Mauricio Pochettino.
The call here is for both sides to collect their second draw of the season – the same as last season's fixture here ended.
Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals looks a decent shout at 11/8 with William Hill with West Ham and Chelsea both looking attack-minded last week.
New West Ham signing Edson Alvarez will e eager to impress and loves a tackle. In what should be a feisty affair, he looks good to be carded at 7/4 with bet365, given he collected an impressive 12 bookings last season in the Netherlands!
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