England - Premier League: Hull vs West Ham Phil Brown saved his job with the win over Stoke and he thus led the Tigers out of the bottom three. His side now need a couple of good results in a row but we are yet to see how they will fare in this match. The Hammers couldn’t build on the midweek win over Aston Villa and lost at home to Everton, with the defeat leaving them in the relegation zone.
Tigers ready for the relegation derby
Even though it looked as though it was only a matter of time before Phil Brown got sacked, the boss managed to save his job with an impressive win over always tough to beat Stoke side and he now aims to continue the good run. The hosts will not have an easy job against underperforming West Ham and seeing this is a relegation derby, they will first make sure not to concede since the defeat could prove too costly. Hull failed to score in three of their last five home games and their misfiring strikers will not have an easy job against West Ham. Therefore, we see a good value in backing Hull to score under 1.5 goals at odds of 1.40 offered by Sportingbet.
The good thing for Phil Brown is that he has almost no injury worries with the only player sure to miss out being a long term casualty Ian Ashbee. First choice keeper Boaz Myhill faces a race to be fit but Matt Duke has done a great job in his absence and he will be ready if called upon. Jimmy Bullard has hit the ground running immediately after recovering from injury and together with Geovanni, who returns after serving suspension, will be main creative force for the hosts.
Hammers back to the basics
West Ham fans believed the win over Aston Villa would kick-start their season but that simply did not happen. The Hammers lost the next match at home to Everton and it’s back to the drawing board. Gianfranco Zola needs to do something to make the players wake up and smell the coffee since few more poor results would mean West Ham are a serious contender for the drop. The visitors are likely to adopt a cautious approach but if things don’t work out, they will attack the opponents in the second half. This team have got enough attacking potential and they’ve been scoring quite a few goals lately, thus you should consider backing West Ham to score in the second half at 1.75 offered by Sportingbet.
The situation with injuries is improving and boss Zola will have much stronger squad at his disposal than two weeks ago. Top scorer Carlton Cole returns to the starting line-up after recovering from injury, while Tomkins and Stanislas are also available for selection. This leaves Kieron Dyer and Heirta Ilunga as the only injured players at the moment and it’s been a while since Zola had just two players on the sidelines.
Betting verdict
This will be extremely important clash for both teams since they are still struggling to escape the dangerous zone and we don’t think either of the sides will risk too much. We expect to see a scrappy affair without too many chances and for that matter, goals.
Looking for livestream! Here it is! Our tip: Bet 5 on Under 2.5 goals
Odds -119 at
Bookmaker: BetCRIS
|
CL
CLQ
UEFA
RELEG
