West Ham United will host Chelsea in a key London derby on the second round of the 2025/26 Premier League season. In an interview, Graham Potter stated that they must unlock more potential within their squad and expressed confidence that his players can make a difference.

In the first round of the new Premier League season, West Ham suffered an upset 0-3 defeat to newly promoted Sunderland away from home, missing out on a winning start.

West Ham manager Graham Potter told a news conference: "Our job is to try and find players who can improve the team, but also to help the existing players develop. That's what I'm focusing on."

"This team has invested a lot in the past few years and we have to get more potential from the current squad. We will try to find the best solution. When we suffer a bad defeat, everyone thinks that the best solution will come to help us and save us. But history has proven that this is not the case. The key is to unite as a team and accept the criticism that comes from bad results."

Talking about the heavy loss to Sunderland in the first round, Graham Potter said, "The reality is that we got a disappointing result. There is no way around it. This is a bad defeat for us. Such a score brings negative emotions, but we have to accept it. At the same time, I still trust my players."

In addition, Chelsea drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace in the first round earlier. In terms of head-to-head record, West Ham have only achieved 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses in the past 5 matches against Chelsea.

Graham Potter continued, "Chelsea have just won the Club World Cup and are in a very good position. They have a very talented manager, a talented squad and have had a good summer transfer window. They continue to bring in young players, so we expect this to be a very difficult game."