West Ham United open their Championship campaign against Charlton Athletic with a modest but measurable form advantage, rated at 5.78 out of 10 against the visitors' 4.67. That gap of 1.11 points separates a side whose pre-season has been steady from one whose preparation has looked patchy, and the contrast in their respective summer programmes sharpens the picture further.

The hosts have scored 10 goals across their last 5 matches while conceding only 4, a profile that includes a 5-0 victory over Stevenage and a 3-0 win in their final competitive outing in May. They have found the net in 4 of those 5 fixtures and kept 3 clean sheets, numbers that suggest defensive organisation has carried through from the spring. Their pre-season concluded with a goalless draw and included a 1-1 result, but the 10 goals scored across the sample point to attacking intent when opportunities arise. West Ham enter this fixture having won 2, drawn 2 and lost 1 of their last 5, a record that offers solidity without spectacular momentum.

Charlton Athletic arrive with a more fragmented picture. Their last 5 matches have produced 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats, with 4 goals scored and 6 conceded. They have managed to score in 4 of those 5 fixtures and recorded 2 clean sheets, but both wins came by a single-goal margin and their preparation ended with a 0-2 defeat. The visitors' only competitive result in that sample was a 1-3 loss in early May, and the subsequent friendly schedule has offered little in the way of high-scoring confidence. A 1-0 win and a 1-1 draw sit alongside two defeats, and the absence of any emphatic performance leaves them arriving at this opener without the clarity their hosts carry.

The sole previous meeting between these sides came in September 2020, when West Ham won 3-0. That encounter produced 3 goals in total, but neither side scored in both halves and the visitors did not register. Over 2.5 goals landed in that 1 fixture, and the head to head record shows 1 win for West Ham, 0 for Charlton and 0 draws. The sample is narrow, but the pattern is unambiguous.

The numbers suggest a home side with defensive structure and attacking capacity facing visitors whose summer has been uncertain and whose goal output has been thin. West Ham have conceded 4 goals in 5 matches while Charlton have let in 6, and the hosts' 10 scored against the visitors' 4 underlines the gulf in threat. With the form gap at 1.11 and the recent results pointing in opposite directions, the data favours a home win shaped by West Ham's ability to convert control into goals against a side whose patchy form offers little evidence of resistance. The value in this fixture sits with the hosts' capacity to dictate both scoreline and tempo from the first whistle.