The first of two London derbies in a row in the league for Chelsea (and West Ham’s second in four days) is also a rare consecutive Saturday 3pm start at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues have won 28 Premier League games against the Hammers, our third-favourite opponents in that respect behind Newcastle (29 victories) and Tottenham (33), who secured a draw at the West Ham’s London Stadium on Wednesday.

Chelsea will be aiming to improve on a run of six wins and eight draws in our past 16 Premier League games at the Bridge, where 13 points have been lost from leading positions. The west Londoners also led at Southampton on Tuesday but went on to register a disappointing second defeat of the campaign.

The distractions of the transfer window have ended, and both sides have made significant additions to their roster. But the demands of this unprecedented season will only increase as midweek European football returns for both clubs next week. Chelsea fly to Croatia for Tuesday in the Champions League, while Europa Conference League football awaits West Ham.

Chelsea team news

There are times in football when every mistake is punished and every opposition shot finds its mark. For Chelsea, it seems, that time is right now. The Blues have conceded the fourth-highest goal-per-shot rate in the top flight, with only Leicester, Bournemouth and Man City worse off. Last season the Londoners ranked fourth lowest.

More frustratingly, the side has taken the lead in four of the five fixtures, including at Southampton – where Raheem Sterling continued his spree of three goals from five shots in two matches – and have only held out for seven points. A few key players are obviously absent but, overall, most of those selected have not been on their game for all of the 90 minutes except, perhaps, against Tottenham.

On Saturday, Thomas Tuchel can welcome back Conor Gallagher and the injury that forced Ruben Loftus-Cheek off in the last game has proved not to be serious. With N’Golo Kante out and Mateo Kovacic clearly not 100 per cent as he recovers fitness after injury, Carney Chukwuemeka could see some action. Reassuringly, Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah have both trained since missing Tuesday’s game.

• More team news from Thomas Tuchel

• Watch this! The first episode of The Blueprint is out

• Transfer moves in full

This game comes too soon for Thursday’s last-minute arrivals, prolific Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and defensive middleman Denis Zakaria.

Another exciting newcomer, Wesley Fofana, who will fulfil a dream when he wears the royal blue of childhood hero Didier Drogba, is one of the fastest central defenders in world football, with skill on the ball, excellent anticipation and a prodigious leap. Although the France Under-21 had been training with Leicester‘s Under-23s before he joined the Blues’ first team drills on Wednesday morning, a debut this weekend is not out of the question.

Hammers time

David Moyes is usually among coaches who use the fewest players in their Premier League plans but, after last season’s tired finish, marching again to the relentless beat of Thursday/Sunday matches may force him to rotate more.

His summer spending has added the required depth, including winger Maxwell Cornet, Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca, centre-backs Nayef Aguerd and Thilo Kehrer from Rennes and PSG repectively, and Chelsea left-back Emerson.

It is uncertain whether Brazil midfielder Lucas Paqueta, a club record signing, will have received his work visa in time for this match, but the options are there. For the weekend win at Aston Villa Scamacca gave Michail Antonio the day off, while Emerson played as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 formation.

Otherwise there was a familiar look and approach, with Jarrod Bowen stretching play and cutting in from the right and Cobham alumnus Declan Rice ruling central midfield. The first goal of their league campaign (in their fourth match) came from playmaker Pablo Fornals.

The Hammers needed change – they had lost eight of their 10 previous league games (partly as the Europa League took priority as the season closed). That said, Moyes has delivered successive top-seven finishes and has made clear his desire for greater heights.

The Irons’ second-half display in Wednesday’s home draw with Tottenham will encourage Moyes. Used in a back four, centre-backs Kehrer and former Blue Kurt Zouma were not required to build patient attacks but play the ball up to Antonio, with their forwards pressing relentlessly. Kehrer, though, added an own goal to the penalty he conceded on debut.

East meets West

This is the second all-capital clash of the season for both teams – each of whose first was against Tottenham. Chelsea have won the last two east/west meetings at the Bridge without conceding.

Thiago Silva’s header set up a 3-0 victory in December 2020, while Christian Pulisic blew the roof off the Matthew Harding with a crucial last-minute winner in April, soon after Jorginho had missed a penalty. That was the Blues’ most recent derby victory.

Saturday set

The delayed confirmation of a starting time for this match, rescheduled because Chelsea were handed a Tuesday night opener in the Champions League, means this mouth-watering derby encounter has been removed from Sky Sports’ UK roster.

The reset 3pm kick-off falls under the ‘blanket ban’ on live television coverage between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday, set in the 1960s because of fears it might affect attendances and still applied in the digital age.

Conference call

Last week’s visitors to the Bridge, Leicester, were inaugural Europa Conference League semi-finalists, and now we face England’s current entrants, West Ham. It will be interesting to see how seriously the Hammers take a competition that requires the regular 48-hour turnarounds that are disliked by pros.

Last season the Foxes parachuted into UEFA’s third competition from the Europa League, so they played 14 matches in total, all but one meaning Thursday/Sunday fixtures. 2021/22 group-stage participants Tottenham, though, bowed out of the competition at the first juncture, playing just five of the six games because of a Covid outbreak.

Matchday 6 Premier League fixtures

Saturday
Everton v Liverpool 12.30pm (BT Sport)
Brentford v Leeds 3pm
Chelsea v West Ham 3pm
Newcastle v Crystal Palace 3pm
Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth 3pm
Tottenham v Fulham 3pm
Wolves v Southampton 3pm
Aston Villa v Man City 5.30pm (Sky Sports)

Sunday
Brighton v Leicester 2pm
Man Utd v Arsenal 4.30pm (Sky Sports)