English Premier League

Chelsea v West Ham United: Premier League – live

January 31, 2026

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Chelsea v West Ham United: Premier League – live

Key events

Raheem Sterling is no longer a Chelsea player, as of this week. He hadn’t played for 18 months and had been training alone but the 31-year-old’s lucrative contract has now been terminated.

Jacob Steinberg, who is at Stamford Bridge today, has been wondering what is next for the former England international:

Sterling’s departure is said to represent a sizeable financial saving for Chelsea. His contract, which had 18 months left, has not been paid up in full. It was time for a clean break. Sterling is too young to retire. He is probably done at the highest level but there will be managers who will back themselves to revive him.

Team news: Palmer starts for Chelsea

After his cameo off the bench against Napoli, where he set up both of João Pedro’s goals, Cole Palmer is in from the start for Chelsea today. He is one of seven changes Liam Rosenior makes to his XI from the Champions League in midweek.

Nuno only makes one change from West Ham’s 3-1 win against Sunderland, with Malick Diouf making his first start since returning from Afcon, replacing Ollie Scarles. New signing Adama Traoré is on the bench.

Starting XIs

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sánchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Hato; Caicedo, Fernández; Gittens, Palmer, Garnacho; Delap.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, James, Acheampong, Fofana, Cucurella, Santos, Neto, João Pedro, Guiu.

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Mavropanos, Diouf; Soucek, Fernandes; Bowen, Pablo, Summerville; Castellanos.
Subs: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Scarles, Potts, Magassa, Kanté, Traoré, Wilson.

No external noise. Photograph: John Walton/PA

Preamble

Hello and welcome. East meets west in London today as West Ham travel across town for a visit to Stamford Bridge. Both teams, rather unusually, are in good spirits ahead of this one – Chelsea have a 100% record in the league under Liam Rosenior and beat Napoli to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. Meanwhile, West Ham have won their last two, including last weekend’s fairly stress-free outing against Sunderland.

Nuno Espírito Santo will be wanting to avoid a repeat of August’s 5-1 drubbing at the London Stadium, although he was still in charge of Nottingham Forest then. Graham Potter and Enzo Maresca were in the dugouts – a fair bit has changed.

Kick-off at the Bridge is 5.30pm (GMT). Team news is coming shortly.

Source From: Premier League | The Guardian

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