Head-to-Head: How do West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate and Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic compare?

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West Ham take on Chelsea on Saturday afternoon, with the midfield area likely to be fiercely contested.

West Ham United take on Chelsea on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League with the Hammers looking to continue their good start to the season, while the reigning champions will be looking to make it back-to-back wins in the league for the first time this season, as they look to climb out of the bottom half.

Slaven Bilic has made an impressive start to life in East London, though it has mostly been on the road where his side have been picking up their points, which allows them to sit in the Champions League places at this early stage of the campaign.

It will be interesting to see how both sides approach the game. Chelsea have been struggling in front of goal this season, while West Ham have been very effective opening up sides on the counter attack. The onus may be on Bilic’s men to be on the front foot a little more at home, but Jose Mourinho’s side are likely to try and start quickly in order to get the foothold in the game they want.

The midfield is likely to be a key battle for both sides, with Cheikhou Kouyate and Nemnja Matic likely to feature heavily in that contest. So how do they compare?

The statistics tell you that both players have differing roles within their respective set-ups, with Kouyate a player that likes to get forward more, while Matic is often asked to sit in a deeper role. As a result, it is of little surprise that the Serbian has a higher percentage in both his tackling and passing accuracy.

But what is telling is that Kouyate loves to battle as much as Matic and hasn’t made any costly errors at the heart of the side, while in front of goal he has certainly been the more prolific of the two this season.

It will be interesting to see who will get the better of the other, as it could go some way to deciding this weekend’s contest.