Bournemouth vs West Ham prediction: Strong Cherries attack can pick apart Hammers | OneFootball

Bournemouth host a struggling West Ham side tonight, with Andoni Iraola’s high-flying outfit looking to move as high as fifth place in the Premier League (8pm, Sky Sports Main Event).

The Cherries sit seventh having played 15 matches, though a win by two goals or more could see them leapfrog Manchester City into fifth place and firmly in contention for the European spots. They’ve won three on the bounce since losses to Brentford and Brighton in November and are one of the in-form sides in the league right now.

Conversely, West Ham have shown some of the most mixed form in the league over recent weeks, with the Hammers sitting in 14th after just two wins from their last five.

Julen Lopetegui has been under pressure from some sections of the fanbase and, although this was eased with a win over Newcastle and last week’s victory over fellow strugglers Wolves, poor results against Arsenal and Leicester have raised yet more questions.

A win away to the Cherries would take West Ham nine points clear of the relegation zone, while a loss would see their Spanish manager come under fire once more from fans and media alike.

Betting sites make Bournemouth odds-on favourites to continue their recent good run at the expense of a Hammers side that’s as big as 18/5 on some betting apps.

The high-flying Cherries could move up to fifth in the table tonight and their goalscoring duties have largely been shared pretty equally between Antoine Semenyo, summer signing Evanilson and Dutchman Justin Kluivert – who scored three penalties in the same match just a few weeks ago.

Both Semenyo and Evanilson have four goals each so far this term and with both tasked with carrying the attacking burden, expect the duo to be on the end of a few shooting opportunities over the course of the 90 minutes – in fact, they are priced at 15/8 and 11/8 respectively to score anytime on football betting sites.

In addition, Semenyo has taken the second most shots in the league so far this season, with 58 – behind only Erling Haaland. Backing the Ghanaian and his Brazilian teammate for over 1.5 shots on target each is priced at a tempting 5/1 with bet365.

West Ham might not be performing as well as their fans would hope this season, but they’ve scored a goal in 14 of their 17 matches so far this term, only blanking once away from home.

While Bournemouth are fairly heavy favourites to win at 8/11 on Premier League betting sites, they have only managed two clean sheets so far this season, with one of them coming at home to 10-man Arsenal.

Rather than backing an outright win only, there could be value in wagering on the Hammers to score but for the Cherries to still take the three points – this is priced at 19/10 with William Hill.

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