Goals Galore
I expect the mid-afternoon kick-off between Bournemouth vs. West Ham to be a goal fest, and I'm getting my bet in early for this one.
Bournemouth
The losses are coming thick and fast for the Cherries at the moment. To make matters worse it looks like their star player Callum Wilson is not only injured but likely to depart in January, with Stamford Bridge the most likely destination. It remains to be seen wether he will be fit for their match against the Hammers; he underwent a late fitness test last weekend when it was decided he needed a little more time to recover from his injury.
The Cherries have conceded seventeen goals in their last five matches
They will aslo miss Solanke, Francis and Cook at the back. They've at least managed to nab Clyne from Liverpool, a well needed addition at right-back. They still lack depth in their squad though when it comes to defensive positions. They are incredibly porous at the back, having conceded seventeen goals in their past five matches. But they do have some talent up front and although they have been conceding goals by the bucketload, they have been grabbing a few goals at the other end - including three goals in the manic 3-3 game against Watford.
Shots on goal
To add to my certainty that there will be goals in this match, you only need to look at the MASSIVE amount of shots on goal West Ham are conceding per match. Then you you add the number of shots on goal that Bournemouth are conceding and you have some pretty strong evidence to suggest this will be a game full of goals.
If we take Bournemouth's statistics of late. At home to Watford (3-3) the shots were 20-9 and the shots on target were 12-3. In their last away match against Everton (0-2) the stats were 14-11 shots and 7-3 shots on target. Surely we'll see some retroactive effect from all these shots this weekend?
Hit and miss Hammers
West Ham are not only guilty of conceding a large number of shots, but they also let far too many of them in. Of course, they won their last game 1-0 against Arsenal and that was a great result for them, but I'm not getting carried away by one match.
We have to take the good with the bad, and you only need to look at the 2-2 against Brighton, the 0-2 against Burnley and the 0-2 against Watford. They do have some real talent up front in Felipe Anderson and Arnautovic, although the latter looks like he is on his way to China and therefore might not be entirely committed. But Nasri played well on Saturday and I think the Hammers have enough strength up front to harm a less-than-stable Bournemouth.
Betting tip
I just can't see how either team is going to sure up their defence in time for Saturday. The Cherries are no doubt hoping that finally all the shots they're notching up in their games will start going in. West Ham are the more in-form team and have some real quality in their squad.
I'm going to bet on both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at odds of 5/6 with Bet365.
