East meets West tomorrow afternoon at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea welcome West Ham United in the final London derby of the 2023/24 Premier League season.

It is a fixture that could have a significant bearing on which sides finishes in European places, with the Blues eighth in the top-flight table and West Ham sitting two points and a place below Mauricio Pochettino's side.

In the first meeting between the two clubs this season, the Blues were beaten 3-1 at the London Stadium. It was a result that saw David Moyes's side move up the table and the Irons were sixth as recently as January.

Since the turn of the year, however, West Ham have won just three times in 16 matches in all competitions. And Moyes has a poor record when coaching at Stamford Bridge, with the Hammers manager defeated in eleven of his 18 games on the touchline.

As has been much discussed this term, Mauricio Pochettino's squad is the youngest in the Premier League, with an average age of 24 years and 228 days. In contrast, West Ham have the second-oldest in the division behind Fulham at 28 years and 270 days.

What our young squad has achieved this term is to help reconstruct fortress Stamford Bridge. The Blues have won six of our previous seven home league games and are unbeaten in 18 matches on home soil in all competitions.

Chelsea team news

After a season of differing challenges, Pochettino felt vindicated by his team’s dominant display against rivals Tottenham. 'The way the team played, competed and how balanced it looked from back to front is what we have wanted from the beginning’, he said.

Strong performances were produced across the side. Trevoh Chalobah scored our opener, led the defence and was named man of the match. Meanwhile, fellow Cobham graduate Alfie Gilchrist restricted the threat of Son Heung-min at right-back.

Marc Cucurella inverted once again from left-back to strengthen the midfield. He became the first Chelsea player since October 2019 to win nine out of nine ground duels in a game.

Moises Caicedo and Conor Gallagher's work rate and quality were on full show – and it was a similar story for Noni Madueke, who earned notable praise from Pochettino after the contest.

The nature of Wednesday’s goals will also have pleased Pochettino, with Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson netting our ninth and tenth headed goals of the campaign, both of which came via set-pieces.

Jackson's eleventh goal of the Premier League season has also seen him better the ten his hero and Chelsea legend Didier Drogba recorded in his debut top-flight season in English football.

West Ham are likely to prove a tougher nut to crack from dead-ball situations than Tottenham, but the Irons have conceded the joint-most penalties in the top flight this season (eight).

Levi Colwill and Christopher Nkunku both returned to team training earlier in the week and a decision will be made as to whether they are ready to return to the matchday squad. However, Pochettino has warned players returning from injury will not have it easy.

'The good thing is that players who are going to return from injuries, they really know and feel that they need to make the effort,' he explained. 'It is not because you are a big name that you have the right to play in the way you want.

'I think that is the most important thing that we learned from [Tottenham Hotspur]. We learned it is not about quality because when you are at Chelsea we suppose you have the quality.

'The most important thing is to work for the team, to give your best and be at your best because if you do not compete and your level is 50 per cent, then it is better for us to have someone with less quality or is maybe younger but is competing at 100 per cent.'

Goal contributions in all competitions 2023/24

Opposition scout: West Ham

West Ham have enjoyed a full week to prepare for their trip across the capital, but will arrive without a clean sheet in their previous 15 Premier League matches.

David Moyes has also lost seven of his last eight trips to Stamford Bridge – and has never won at our stadium.

The West Ham squad includes two former Blues in Emerson, who is on corner duty for the Irons, and Kurt Zouma, whose threat from set-pieces is well known to Chelsea supporters.

Moyes will likely deploy a low-block defence at the Bridge and use the inspiration of Mohammed Kudus, the creativity of Lucas Paqueta, the aerial prowess of Tomas Soucek, the goalscoring nous of Jarrod Bowen, and the presence of Michail Antonio in the attacking end of the pitch.

Against Liverpool last time out, Bowen equaled Paolo Di Canio's club-record 16 goals in a Premier League campaign. The wide 5ft 9ins wide forward has netted five of those with his head.

There were penalties at either end in the reverse fixture at the London Stadium, which the Hammers won 3-1 despite opening goalscorer Nayef Aguerd seeing red for a second bookable offence.

Aguerd is currently injured but another centre-back, Konstantinos Mavropanos, may be ready to return.

The history

Our first meeting with West Ham was contested at the Bridge in October 1923. It was witnessed by 50,000 spectators and ended goalless.

Forty-three years later, we claimed our biggest victory over the Hammers, a 6-2 triumph in April 1966. Bobby Tambling struck a brace and our victory also included a rare goal from Ron Harris, which Peter Osgood assisted.

Ahead of the 1966 World Cup, all six Blues selected for Alf Ramsey’s provisional 40 were involved – Peter Bonetti, Barry Bridges, Marvin Hinton, Hollins, Osgood and Terry Venables – while only Bobby Moore featured of West Ham’s soon-to-be-famous trio.

The following season, the two sides played out a 5-5 draw described by the Sunday Mirror as a ‘Ten-Goal Heart Attack'.

In a see-saw game, Chelsea conceded twice before a three-goal salvo in 14 minutes. The Irons hit back with three in five minutes before the hosts rallied late to level the scores with a brace from Bobby Tambling.

In their last 17 visits to Stamford Bridge, West Ham have won just once. One of our best showings in that time came in March 2010, when a brace from Didier Drogba and goals from Alex and Florent Malouda secured a 4-1 win for Carlo Ancelotti's soon-to-be champions.

Capital closure

Our success over Tottenham secured a home and away double for the tenth Premier League season in our history – the most against any rival alongside Manchester City.

Tomorrow's game will be the final London derby of the Premier League captain. The Blues have the second-best points-per-match record in these capital clashes (1.82) this season, with only Arsenal (2) ahead.

The Hammers have won two and lost three of their all-London away games to date – and have twice conceded five goals in those fixtures.

Palmer again?

Cole Palmer missed the reverse fixture at the London Stadium but has scored or assisted goals against 13 different Premier League opponents this season.

Only six Chelsea players have previously done so against 14 clubs, the most recent was Eden Hazard (15 teams) in 2018/19, which included both goals in a 2-0 victory over he Hammers in April 2019.