The versatile Michail Antonio is pushed up top in the absence of Marko Arnautovic for West Ham.

He is just ahead of Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson.

Olivier Giroud doing a similar lone frontman thing for Chelsea. Eden Hazard is close by looking to link up.

We are off and running with the West Ham bubble machine still chugging out at full-blast.

Image source, Reuters

"Fortune's always hiding, I've looked everywhere..."

The two teams emerges into a grey London afternoon amid a cloud of bubbles and the traditional right old sing-along.

Chelsea are in the daffodil yellow away kit.

We are minutes away.

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri speaking to Sky Sports prior to kick-off:

"I think this is the most difficult game we have played up to now. They [West Ham] are a very good team and I don't know why they lost the first four matches in the Premier League.

"Today for us will be very difficult.

"I hope Hazard's rest in midweek will be positive today."

On Chelsea being delayed due to bad weather after their Europa League game on Thursday:

"We have had only a few hours to prepare for this match but I hope it will not be a problem."

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at London Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham must make do without talisman Marko Arnautovic - a blow that heaps more responsibility the talented newcomers Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko.

And both will be high on confidence after the 3-1 win at Everton last Sunday, when the Ukrainian scored twice on his full debut. They will be expected to pose the main problems for the Chelsea defence.

Tough task for the Hammers here today as Chelsea arrive at the cavernous London Stadium protecting a 100% Premier League record.

Miserable, wet conditions.

West Ham United

Image source, getty

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini speaking to Sky Sports: "Marko tried to see at the last minute if he was fit, but this morning he couldn’t run. He tried but he couldn’t. He is important and scoring a lot of goals so of course it is not the best. But we have a squad and we have Antonio and I hope that we can do it.

"Last week was just one game and now we have a big game. It is very important because we need the points, it is a big derby and it would put us near the middle of the table and it is an important match for us for many reasons."

Image source, Getty

This is the continental youngster that all the big wallets in the Premier League are unloading for according to today's gossip column.

Ajax's 21-year-old Frenkie de Jong was apparently the target of an unsuccessful £50m bid from Manchester City in the summer and is now also being chased by Manchester United and Barcelona.

Get the rest of your red-hot gossip here.

And make sure you stop off at the Independent for Jonathan Liew's dissection of the internet's instant scouting experts., external

"You don’t actually need to watch Frenkie de Jong playing football to form an opinion on him," he writes.

"Or at least, you don’t need to watch very much at all.

"One of those little 90-second highlights clips they put on Twitter will suffice. Or, if you’re going to push the boat out, you can skim through one of those YouTube tactics videos compiled by someone with enough dedication to sift through and edit hours of Ajax footage and put smart little yellow arrows all over it, but who still hasn’t worked out that not everyone wants their football highlights soundtracked by DJ Tiesto at ear-splitting volume."

Andy: Wow, what was the point of signing Lucas Perez? He's the only fit striker we've got, but Pellegrini would rather play with NO strikers than put him in the line-up. That's got to knock his confidence more than a little bit.

Image source, Getty Images

A sighting of Marko Arnautovic.

It is not shuttling up and down the sidelines as part of the West Ham warm-up though.

The former Inter Milan striker leans against the side of the London Stadium tunnel before wandering out for a chat with a member of the backroom staff and posing for a few selfies with the early arrivals in the stands.

How much might his dicky hamstring and absence hinder West Ham today?

Image source, Getty

West Ham v Chelsea is not the only cross-town dust-up to keep your eye on today.

When Partizan Belgrade host Red Star Belgrade this evening things will be..partisan.

Learn more about the Eternal Derby, the roots of its rivalry and why, in a region racked by the hangover of conflict, it is strictly sporting in this article.

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic - a former Partizan Belgrade fan, player and manager - Red Star defender Milos Degenek and Darko Nikolic, a journalist for Serbian newspaper Blic provide the insight.

Image source, Instagram

Talking of Antonio Conte, Chelsea's recently-departed and not-much-mourned manager was at Craven Cottage yesterday to take in Fulham's 1-1 draw with Watford.

According to Italian gossip god Gianluca di Marzio,, external Conte is still living in London and keen to take on a job somewhere in Europe.

Conte's brother Daniele was alongside him and posted a photo of the pair saying they were 'at work'.

Intriguing.

Maurizio Sarri is attempting to string together his sixth straight Premier League win at the start of the season.

The Blues have done it twice before - in 2005-06 and 2009-10 - and won the title on both of occasions.

It was a fellow Italian - Carlo Ancelotti - who was in charge in the latter.

Today we are asking who is the finest Premier League manager from the land of catenaccio and cappuccino?

Ranieri? Conte? Mancini? Guidolin? Ok, maybe not Francesco Guidolin. But there is some competition to be the prima tactical don.

Vote now!

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has been forced into one change following his side's first win of the season against Everton last weekend.

Marko Arnautovic sustained a match-ending knee injury during the victory at Goodison Park, and the Austrian international has been replaced by Michail Antonio in the starting line up.

West Ham XI: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Diop, Balbuena, Masuaku, Rice, Yarmolenko, Obiang, Noble, Felipe Anderson, Antonio

Subs: Cresswell, Snodgrass, Adrian, C Sanchez, Ogbonna, Fredericks, Perez

Image source, BBC Sport

Chelsea make one change to the side that thumped Cardiff City last Saturday, as Willian starts instead of Pedro.

The Spaniard collided with PAOK Salonika goalkeeper Alexandros Paschalakis towards the end of Thursday's Europa League victory in Greece.

Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Giroud, Hazard

Subs: Fabregas, Barkley, Caballero, Moses, Zappacosta, Cahill, Morata

Image source, BBC Sport

This is what the top of the table looks like after Saturday's action.

Thanks to their greater number of goals scored, Chelsea would move back to the top via a two-goal winning margin over the Hammers this afternoon.

Jack Wilshere may be out injured, but he's certainly behind his team-mates today

Image source, Gett

That cannot be good news for Lucas Perez.

With Marko Arnautovic out, the £4m summer signing from Arsenal would have hoped, maybe expected to make his first start. No such luck as he is back on the bench, where he will surely be fully stripped and shin-padded up at all times after last weekend's fandango at Everton.

West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic is out with a knee problem picked up in the win over Everton. Michail Antonio comes in while Andriy Yarmolenko, who scored twice in the win at Goodison Park, is in the starting XI.

Chelsea make seven changes from the side that beat PAOK Salonika on Thursday with Olivier Giroud picked ahead of Alvaro Morata up front and Eden Hazard recalled.