The Vitality Stadium is the venue for a pivotal fixture in the Premier League relegation scrap this weekend as Bournemouth are set to host West Ham on Sunday afternoon. A win for either side should give them some much-needed breathing space between the danger zone.
After recording two successive victories in the league, Bournemouth now find themselves in 14th place in the Premier League, six points adrift of the relegation zone and two points ahead of this weekend’s opponents.
Bournemouth come into this game on the back of their best run of form of the campaign, having won four of their last six league outings. This run has included an impressive 1-0 victory over Liverpool and a 2-1 victory over high-flying Fulham.
Last time out, Bournemouth left it late to record an unexpected come-from-behind victory over Tottenham Hotspur. substitute Dango Ouattara scored the fifth and final goal of the game as the Cherries recorded a stunning 3-2 victory over Spurs.
West Ham are currently occupying 15th place in the Premier League table and are currently four points above the relegation zone, however, they have a game in hand over all of the teams beneath them.
David Moyes’ side also come into this weekend on the back of an impressive run of form which has seen The Hammers record just one loss in the last five league outings. Most notably, West Ham put on solid defensive displays as they recorded 1-0 victories over Fulham and Southampton.
Last weekend, West Ham gained an unlikely point against the league leaders in arguably their best display of the season so far. It seemed as though Arsenal would go onto record a comfortable victory after taking an early 2-0 lead but goals from Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen earned an unlikely point.
The Hammers were in action on Thursday evening as they hosted Genk in the quarter-final stage of the European Conference league. David Moyes’ side put on a majestic display as they came from behind to record a 4-1 win on the night and 5-2 on aggregate progressing to the Semi-final stage of a European competition for successive years.
These sides have met on sixteen competitive occasions, with West Ham having won seven, Bournemouth having won four and there being five draws. This is often a high-scoring affair, with there being an average of three goals across the past five games.
David Moyes’ side recorded a comfortable victory when these sides met at the London Stadium earlier on in the campaign. A Kurt Zouma header on the stroke of halftime gave the Hammers a lead which they doubled in the second period thanks to a Said Benrahma penalty.
These sides are fairly evenly matched at the bookies ahead of this meeting but it is West Ham who are narrowly favoured, currently priced @ 6/4, whilst a home win for Bournemouth is priced @ 9/5.
We are backing Jarrod Bowen to score @ 9/2 because he has found some impressive goalscoring form in recent weeks. Bowen has netted three times in his last six outings and will come into this game with high confidence having scored against the league leaders last time out.