Slaven Bilic has overseen a slight upturn in form from his West Ham side in recent weeks.

The Hammers had made a disastrous start to the new season, losing five of their first six games, and conceding a league-high 16 goals in the process.

However, the Croatian has switched to a back three, and has since seen his side keep two clean sheets in important 1-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Sunderland – results that have seen the East London club move to 15th in the Premier League table.

Although there is still a lot of work to be done, the future looks a lot more optimistic for West Ham fans now in comparison to three weeks ago, and they will take that positivity into their League Cup match against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Antonio Conte’s Blues have also hit some decent form in recent weeks by dispatching champions Leicester and Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United with ease, moving them up to fourth in the table.

However, both managers will likely make changes to their sides on Wednesday, as they look to keep their respective squads fresh for the long season ahead.

Here are THREE West Ham players who deserve a chance against Chelsea…

Ashley Fletcher

Despite recent victories, it’s clear that West Ham are still struggling to put the ball in the net. None of their forwards have scored this season, with Zaza in particular coming in for heavy criticism.

Thus, striker Ashley Fletcher should get a chance to prove his worth to Bilic in the middle of the front three.

With Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini either side, the main man should get opportunities to score and, with Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew still sidelined, Fletcher should get the chance in that role on Wednesday.

Edimilson Fernandes

Edimilson Fernandes came in for the suspended Aaron Cresswell against Sunderland, and did enough to give Cresswell some competition on that left-hand side.

Bilic persevered with a back three, leaving Fernandes to play in the wing-back role, and he threatened regularly going forward, and showed decent defensive capabilities as well.

Although Cresswell is definitely the number one choice, Fernandes’ performance could warrant another start on Wednesday night.

Reece Oxford

For all of West Ham’s defensive concerns this season, it’s slightly surprising that starlet Reece Oxford has not got much game time.

The 17-year-old has been widely tipped to go on and become an excellent defender, but clearly Bilic doesn’t rate him as good enough just yet, despite their defensive frailties at the start of the season.

He has only played twice for the Hammers this campaign, and that was in their Europa League home game against Domzale and their trip to Astra Giurgiu, both of which were back in August.

The youngster made the bench on Saturday, although was an unused substitute, and deserves to go at least one better and make an appearance against Chelsea.