For Ben Chilwell, it has been another campaign affected by serious injury, so it was a delight to see him back on the pitch for the closing stages of our goalless draw against Fulham, his first involvement since early November.

Emerson Palmieri made the switch from Chelsea to West Ham in the summer, and he has also lacked gametime in the Premier League. However, as well as being a regular in the Europa Conference League and the domestic cups, the Italian international has been one of the star performers in each of West Ham’s last two games, the win at home to Everton and creditable 1-1 draw at Newcastle.

Near-identical involvement

Both players have featured in 10 league games this season and, usefully for this comparison, their minutes played (424 for Chilwell and 457 for Emerson) are very similar. The former Blue has six starts to his name, Chilwell four, with an equal number of appearances at left-back and left wing-back.

Both are players who like to get forward and attack, so let’s start in that area of the pitch. Chilwell has a goal and an assist to his name - ironically both coming against West Ham in the reverse fixture – and has also earned a penalty for us, in the opening-day win at Everton.

Clinical Chilwell, Emerson's attacks

The stats show Chilwell is very efficient in the final third. He scored from his only shot on target so far this season and assisted with his only key pass. In contrast, Emerson is yet to register a goal involvement but has had two shots on target and played six key passes.

Both have delivered two successful crosses with similar overall accuracy from out wide (17 per cent for Chilwell, 15 for Emerson).

The duo also rank similarly for successful dribbles, three to two in Emerson’s favour, and passing stats. Chilwell has completed marginally more (207 to 181) with a slightly inferior completion rate (82 per cent to 83 per cent), although he has greater accuracy than his former team-mate in the opposition half (73 per cent to 71 per cent).

At the back

Defensively, Chilwell is more effective in the tackle, winning twice as many (four) as Emerson (two) with a significantly better success rate (57 per cent compared to 40 per cent).

Chilwell has made eight clearances, to Emerson’s six, with the Brazilian-born left-back leading Chilwell on interceptions by six to five.

Whatever their involvement at the London Stadium on Saturday, it feels like both players will have an important part to play in the closing months of their respective teams’ seasons.