West Ham welcome Bournemouth to the London Stadium in Monday Night Football.
Victory would lift David Moyes’ Hammers up to tenth in the table, whereas Bournemouth can go ninth with a win.
Team News
Lucas Paqueta is ruled out for West Ham with a shoulder injury.
Craig Dawson (leg) plus Maxwel Cornet (calf) are doubts Nayef Aguerd (ankle) remains absent.
Bournemouth have no fresh injury concerns to report following their defeat to Southampton in midweek as Lloyd Kelly (ankle) and David Brooks (fitness) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have won just one of their last seven league meetings against Bournemouth (W1, D3, L3).
- Bournemouth have claimed seven points away to West Ham in five previous Premier League trips to London Stadium (W2, D1, L2).
- Only one of West Ham’s last five goalscorers against Bournemouth still plays for the club – Aaron Cresswell who scored in a 2-2 draw in September 2019.
- West Ham are yet to score a headed league goal this season.
- Kieffer Moore has won more aerial battles than any other Bournemouth player this season, having won 25 aerial battles in 11 appearances.
Prediction
Although Wednesday’s defeat at Liverpool will feel deflating following their recent upturn in form, West Ham simply lacked the final touch despite producing solid attacks but can take heart from losing by just one goal thanks to great saves from Lukasz Fabianski.
Bournemouth meanwhile were simply wasteful of their chances against a resolute Southampton in their own narrow defeat, whilst some sloppy marking ultimately proved costly so there is work to do at both ends in order to get these Cherries back firing up front and more solid defensively.
Both teams also have roughly scored the same number of goals between them – with West Ham having netted nine goals to Bournemouth’s ten, which highlights the fairly poor end product between both clubs so I don’t expect a thriller but defences will be crucial to the outcome here.
On that note, my gut instinct is that a low-scoring draw might be a fair result given the quality within both teams, although West Ham really need to step up their game domestically because they do look much better in UEFA Europa Conference League.
Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Bournemouth
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