West Ham still without Sakho as Reid injury is confirmed

Conte’s start is also better than the beginning of Mourinho’s second spell (W6-D2-L2) in the autumn of 2013, when the chronic lack of an elite striker in the Chelsea squad led to Premier League points being dropped on the road against Everton, Tottenham and Newcastle.

Chelsea’s Belgian players Romelu Lukaku (L) and Eden Hazard (R) celebrate Lukaku’s goal during a friendly football match against Indonesia all stars at Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on July 25, 2013.

Everton’s hopes of doing that will have been buoyed by last Sunday’s win over the Hammers which ended a six-week search for a victory in the Premier League and kept the Toffees within four points of fourth place which is now occupied by tomorrow’s opponents.

“West Ham” last season fighting for a place in the Champions League, and the “Stoke” stably causing trouble grandees.

A run of five games unbeaten is quite a contrast to the form Stoke started the season in, losing four of their first five league matches and lying at the foot of the table with just a point to their name. But the Hammers were dealt a huge blow early in the season after summer signing Ayew picked up a nasty injury. There are a couple who will return from injury stronger while a few are just starting to adjust to the conditions in the country. It is also because of the global break. Arouna Kone and Maarten Stekelenburg both look set to take late fitness tests and will have their fitness determined closer to kick off.

Everton have scored exactly three goals in three of their last four Premier League meetings with Chelsea, failing to score in the other (W1 D1 L2).

Conte won’t make any changes to his defense and formation as the team hasn’t conceded a single goal in its last four league games.

In the last five games in Premier League, Everton ticked a draw, three losses and a win, scoring a total of 10 goals.

“Of course, we know the system”.

West Ham also suffer from this as the Hammers’ performance last week was simply not good enough compared with the way they played in the EFL Cup.

Marcos Alonso will once again be deployed at left wing-back, a position he has got familiar with in recent games whilst the impressive pairing of N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic will occupy the centre of the park.