West Ham vs Bournemouth Odds
| West Ham Odds | +137 |
| Bournemouth Odds | +180 |
| Draw | +275 |
| Over / Under | 2.5 -163 / +125 |
West Ham United looks to snap a four-match winless streak when it hosts a Bournemouth side that remains dangerous despite back-to-back league defeats.
The Hammers will remain in sixth in the table regardless of Thursday's result, but as of Wednesday, four clubs were within four points of that sixth spot, which typically guarantees a European place.
Bournemouth were arguably the Premier League's best club in November and December, taking 19 points from a seven-game league stretch. But a step up in class on the schedule brought multiple-goal losses at Tottenham Hotspur and at home to Liverpool, with two FA Cup wins over League Championship sides woven in between. Most recently, Bournemouth smashed Queens Park Rangers 5-0 at home.
These teams shared the points in a 1-1 draw on the season's opening weekend, with Bournemouth's Dominic Solanke leveling late after Jarrod Bowen opened the scoring early in the second half.
Check out my West Ham vs Bournemouth prediction and full preview.
West Ham
Solanke was on pace for his best Premier League season, even when the Cherries were struggling early. However, he found another level in that recent seven-game streak.
He scored eight times in that stretch, including his first Premier League hat trick in a 3-2 win at Nottingham Forest. Additionally, his first goal of the FA Cup campaign last week allowed manager Andoni Iraola to remove the striker at halftime on a positive note with the outcome well secure.
What's most impressive is how Bournemouth has managed to consistently generate chances for their best attacker, despite often playing against clubs who have more quality. Solanke leads the Premier League with 66 shots — one ahead of Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins — and is averaging an astounding four shots per match in 10 league games since the beginning of November.
But if opponents can corral Solanke or disconnect him from service, there's still the danger the Cherries won't have enough options to solve attacking problems in other ways. The former Chelsea and Liverpool prospect has 13 total goal involvements, more than double the next-closest Bournemouth player. No one else has scored more than three times for Iraola's squad.
Bournemouth's injury problems are mainly at outside back, where they could be without three potential options for Thursday's match. That could be especially problematic given the deep-lying, counter-attacking style in which West Ham excels.
Bournemouth
The good news for West Ham is that their recent downturn has done relatively minor damage to their strong league campaign.
And if you're only looking at the context of the league season, a regression was almost inevitable following back-to-back wins over Manchester United and Arsenal. That those came in the form of two draws — in which the Hammers created fewer chances than their opponents — could even be seen as a positive.
Further, Kalvin Phillips could make his club debut after signing on loan from Manchester City during the secondary transfer window. While he played mostly as a defensive midfielder for City, that job description looks a lot different than most No. 6 roles and he could be deployed further forward for his new club when Edson Alvarez is healthy.
Jarrod Bowen leads West Ham with 11 goals in a role roving between a striker and right winger. But he's scoreless in his past three league matches — an inconvenient time to have a dry spell given the other absences in David Moyes' squad.
Forward Kudus Mohammed could make his return after Ghana's elimination from the African Cup of Nations. But playmaker Lucas Paqueta (calf) and forward Michail Antonio (knee) aren't expected to return Thursday, and attacker Said Benrahma remains suspended.
Further back in the formation, Alvarez (calf) is questionable to return and defender Vladimir Coufal (suspension) is out.
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West Ham vs Bournemouth
Prediction
Bookmakers' lean is solidly toward a higher total, which I think presents an opportunity to leverage the fact that while these are two good attacking sides, neither have the kind of attacking diversity likely to lead to a five-or-more-goal thriller.
The total in Bournemouth's 10 away league games has landed on three or four goals on seven occasions. The ratio is only four in 10 for the Hammers, but the six games it didn't occur included all four of West Ham's clean sheets kept at home.
With questions about Alvarez's fitness and Solanke's recent form, I don't see another clean sheet for the Hammers here. And since I don't, I see the 3-4 goal bands ratio as the play here. At +145 odds and an implied 40.8% probability, it has cashed in 23-of-40 league games between these sides. The ratio is 11-of-20 when accounting for the correct home/away splits.
