Bournemouth vs West Ham predictions: Cherries to add to Hammers' woes
- Bournemouth rank fourth in Europe's top five leagues for total expected goals (30.4)
- West Ham were beaten 3-1 by Leicester in their last away match
- Recommended bet: Bournemouth to win
A 2-1 win in a match dubbed the ‘El Sackico’ by many would have eased the pressure on most managers, but not West Ham’s Julen Lopetegui.
The Hammers rode their luck against Wolves, surviving two warranted penalty claims at one end and scoring a controversial winner at the other, with the fortune surrounding their victory compounded by the fact that Wanderers stuck with their manager, Gary O’Neil, despite the defeat.
Up against a brilliant Bournemouth side who have earned some massive wins at home this term, it is hard to see West Ham and an under-fire Lopetegui having much joy at the Vitality Stadium on Monday night.
Team news
Bournemouth trio Alex Scott, Julian Araujo and Marcos Senesi will be out for this clash, while Luis Sinisterra and Tyler Adams will need to be assessed after missing last Saturday’s win at Ipswich.
Michail Antonio is stable after his car crash but will certainly not be playing football any time soon, having had surgery on his lower body.
Suspended left-back Emerson is the Hammers’ only other absentee, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Aaron Cresswell the likeliest to come in for the Italian.
The stats
Bournemouth have won three games on the spin, beating Wolves, Tottenham and Ipswich in that run in which they have scored seven goals.
West Ham have conceded 10 goals while losing three of their last four away games.
The Hammers are unbeaten in seven head-to-head meetings with Bournemouth, but have been struggling for form this season.
The Cherries have won four of their last five home matches, shutting out Arsenal and Spurs during that sequence.
Jarrod Bowen has scored twice and provided one assist in his last four appearances against Bournemouth.
Prediction
While West Ham have seemingly regressed this term, Bournemouth look to be building on Andoni Iraola’s promising first season in England by improving and then some this time around.
The Cherries have already beaten Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham – recording a clean sheet against the latter pair – this season and there is reason to believe that their points tally of 24 is actually too low.
Ahead of this weekend, only Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea have accumulated more expected goals than Bournemouth’s 30.4 in Europe’s top five leagues, highlighting just how dangerous they are in attack.
That is bad news for West Ham, who have looked disjointed and easy to play through for the entirety of the season, as shown by the fact that they rank in the top 10 for expected goals against in Europe’s top five leagues prior to this round of fixtures, with a worrying figure of 26.7.
The Hammers may be unbeaten in the last seven head-to-heads, but this iteration of West Ham is hard to trust against any side, let alone one as strong as Bournemouth.
Win up to £250,000 with LiveScore 6!
Win up to £250,000 with our free-to-play game, LiveScore 6!
