2020-21 Premier League: Week 18b – West Ham vs West Brom

West Ham welcome West Bromwich Albion to the London Stadium in a tasty midweek Premier League clash. 

West Ham could rise as high as sixth with victory whereas Sam Allardyce’s Baggies can move above Fulham into 18th with a win.

 

Team News

Embed from Getty Images

West Ham have no fresh injury concerns to report after Saturday’s win over Burnley as Fabian Balbuena remains absent as he self-isolates after contact with someone who tested positive for Coronavirus.

Arthur Masuaku (knee) is also ruled out indefinitely.

West Brom welcome Conor Gallagher back after completing an one match ban in Saturday’s away win at Wolves.

Karlan Grant (foot), Conor Townsend (knee), Sam Johnstone, Matt Phillips (both Coronavirus) and Grady Diangana (hamstring) are ruled out.

 

Stat Attack

• West Ham have lost just one of their last five league meetings against West Brom (W2, D2, L1).
• West Brom are unbeaten in two of their three previous trips to the London Stadium across all competitions (W1, D1, L1).
• In 20 previous Premier League meetings between these teams, West Brom have received the only red card awarded in this fixture.
• West Ham have produced the third lowest number of backpasses this season, with only Newcastle and Aston Villa producing less than the Hammers’ 1,040 backpasses.
• Matheus Pereira’s penalty brace at Wolves on Saturday marked West Brom’s first scored penalties in 34 Premier League since Jay Rodriguez’s spot-kick against Arsenal on New Year Eve 2017.

 

Prediction

West Ham seem to have developed a habit of scrappy 1-0 wins in recent weeks but if they can just be more patient in their shot creating, they could potentially score more goals because the opportunities were there on Saturday to secure a bigger win over Burnley.

West Brom meanwhile have gone unbeaten in their last four away trips across all competitions (W1, D3), plus showed renewed attacking intent at Wolves which I wasn’t expecting given their position in the table despite defensive issues still remaining.

On that note, we definitely should expect goals here but the Hammers don’t tend to score many goals in games unless the opposition’s defence is just as poor as their attack, so I can see a draw coming here unless either team can build on their success at the weekend with stronger performances.

Prediction: West Ham 1-1 WBA

Result: West Ham 2-1 WBA