Chelsea play host to West Ham United in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The game is vitally important for both West Ham and Chelsea, but for very different reasons.
West Ham are deeply embroiled in a relegation battle while Chelsea are pushing for a place inside the top four in the Premier League table.
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Not to knock him as a player, but he’s hardly played in months!
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Interestingly, West Ham and Chelsea are involved in intense transfer negotiations ahead of the match, with Axel Disasi being mooted for a move to the London Stadium.
However, all of that will be forgotten about come 5:30 on Saturday evening.
It should be a terrific game of football at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
However, Chelsea fans might not be happy with what the Premier League have just announced ahead of the match.
Blow for Chelsea ahead of West Ham clash after Premier League announcement
The Hammers desperately need a result this weekend in order to prevent a bigger gap forming between them and Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.
However, Chelsea are in the same boat.
Liam Rosenior’s side are currently sitting in fifth spot in the Premier League table, one point adrift of fourth placed Manchester United.
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Achieving Champions League football will be crucial for Chelsea this season, but they’ve just been given some concerning news ahead of the West Ham game.
Anthony Taylor has been named as the referee for the Chelsea vs West Ham game, as confirmed via the Premier League’s official website.
Now, Blues fans will be very wary of the fact that Taylor will be officiating the game against the Hammers.
Back in 2021, Chelsea fans branded Taylor as the ‘worst referee in the world’ after their clash with Liverpool at Anfield.
The Blues were 1-0 up and in control of the game before Taylor awarded Liverpool a penalty in first-half stoppage time and proceeded to send off Reece James.
Then, in 2022, Taylor missed Cristian Romero’s blatant hair pull on Marc Cucurella during Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge – a move that should have seen the Spurs centre-back sent off.
It was an example of truly terrible refereeing by the official from Manchester.
Fast forward three years and Taylor annoyed the Chelsea fans yet again.
During their clash with Arsenal in November 2025, Taylor sent off Moises Caicedo for a reckless challenge on Mikel Merino.
However, he then refused to send off Piero Hincapie during the feisty draw at Stamford Bridge, and the Chelsea staff were fuming with the referee throughout the entire match.
Anthony Taylor is not a popular figure at Chelsea
Chelsea fans have never been entirely happy when Taylor has refereed their matches.
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Perhaps their players won’t be too keen on having him officiate their games either.
And that could be very good news for West Ham ahead of the huge Premier League clash with Chelsea this weekend.
However, it’s worth noting that most football fans take issue with pretty much every single referee at various points throughout the season.
Chelsea and West Ham fans will just be hoping that nobody is talking about Anthony Taylor after the Premier League clash this weekend.
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