Premier League: Bouncing Bournemouth Might Give Hammers a Headache

Bournemouth vs West Ham United

The English top-flight is a high-pressure arena with the stakes as high as anywhere, in terms of prizes on the one hand, and then there is the Sword of Damocles which hangs over the head of every losing manager. Now there’s a horrible image to get us on the way on Friday 13^th.

Hey, football is about fun, entertainment, and passion, and this Premier League match between Bournemouth and West Ham United will give us all those things in spades. But it’s also a huge game for both teams which come into the match with a win, and they each have the taste for more. The Hammers picked up a vital 2-1 victory over Wolves on Monday to take some pressure off manager Julen Lopetegui, while Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth won 2-1 away at Ipswich Town to make it three league wins on the run.

The Cherries are sitting comfortably in the top half of the table, but not so the Hammers, who are down in 14^th place, even below the bottom half trio of Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, and Manchester United. But the win over Wolves has given West Ham some breathing space, as the East Londoners are now nine points clear of the drop zone and so Lopetegui should have some time to work things out at the London Stadium.

A trip to the Vitality Stadium is not the first place the Spaniard would choose at this moment, and the Premier League 2024 betting odds won’t give him much comfort.        

 

Talking Points

Cherries are no respecters of reputation 

Nine points from three league games have taken Bournemouth up to eighth place in the Premier League table, a point behind Nottingham Forest in fifth and three behind Manchester City in fourth. They are having another superb season and have taken some huge scalps, with wins over Arsenal, Manchester City, and Tottenham Hotspur all at home.

Ever since the reign of Eddie Howe, Bournemouth have enjoyed a reputation for free-flowing attacking football, and that has continued under Iraola, with Justin Kluivert, Evanilson, and Antoine Semenyo all quick-footed forwards, and backed by the excellent

Marcus Tavernier, who has made four assists this season.

And the Cherries have shown they can scrap out positive Premier League 2024 results too, coming back from a one-goal deficit late on in their match against Ipswich to take all three points with two late strikes. The Tractor Boys thought they had a first home of the season in the bag when they went into the last three minutes with a lead. But when Enes Unal levelled, the Cherries smelled blood, and they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as Dango Ouattara broke Ipswich hearts with a 95^th-minute winner.

 

Lopetegui needs the Hammers to build on their win

West Ham manager Lopetegui would dearly love to see his team show that kind of ruthlessness when their backs are against the wall and, to be fair, they did work hard to pick up a vital three points last time out. There was a huge amount of pressure surrounding West Ham’s clash with Wolves on Monday, and his big players delivered as Jarrod Bowen scored his fourth goal of the campaign and, after Matt Doherty had levelled for Wolves, Tomas Soucek made it 2-1.    

Current Wolves manager Gary O’Neil was sacked by Bournemouth in 2023 after he had guided the Cherries to survival, and that shows just how precarious the life of a Premier League manager can be. On tough times, Lopetegui can rely on his skipper Bowen, who has also made six assists, to lead from the front.

He’s missing two other senior players for this clash, as striker Michail Antonio is recovering from a car accident, while Emerson Palmieri is suspended. But ne needs the 11 who crossed the white line to deliver and build on that hard-earned win over Wolves.         

 

History

The head-to-heads Bournemouth and West Ham United have been well contested over the years with the Hammers edging it by seven wins to five, and there have been five draws. Lopetegui’s team came out on top in a Carabao Cup match earlier this season as Bowen scored a late goal in a tight 1-0 victory, while last season, both meetings ended 1-1.   

The Cherries have won four, including a 2-1 win over Manchester City, and lost four of the last six games, while West Ham have won two, drawn one, and lost three.  

 

Betting Tip

At SBOTOP odds of 1.69 to win, the Cherries are a decent bet to make it four wins on the bounce, while West Ham are priced at 3.82, and the Hammers have rarely impressed this season. But I expect the visitors to battle hard on the South coast, and a repeat of the last two league outcomes, a 1-1 draw at odds of 7.43, would not be a bad return for Lopetegui.

   

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