If you were looking for Southampton vs West Ham prediction & betting tips, you are at the right place. We’re now going to discuss the only Premier League match scheduled for this Thursday. The match is taking place at Southampton’s turf, the St. Mary’s Stadium in the south-west of England. The Saints are going to try to build on their good form and grab another win. But, can they actually do it against West Ham? Let’s find out!
Southampton
At the beginning of the month, Mark Hughes lost his job as the manager of Southampton and was replaced with Ralph Hasenhuttl, a former manager of RB Leipzig. His team did lose on his managerial debut, but since then, Southampton started playing pretty impressively.
The decision to get a new manager proved wise as Southampton won two games in a row, beating Arsenal at home and Huddersfield in an away game. The most impressive thing about these wins is that Southampton scored 3 goals in each of those matches.
And those goals did not come by accident; Southampton players deserved them. In those games, they played in a very attacking formation, but what really surprised the fans is the players’ eagerness to run all over the pitch. Southampton again looked alive!
On Sunday, they play against Man City, a game that they’re likely to lose. I think the players know it, the manager knows it, the fans know it. This is why they’re not going to focus on the weekend’s match, but on the one played on Thursday. And I’m sure they’re going to give their utmost in that game.
West Ham
Last weekend, their impressive run came to an end. West Ham finally lost after winning 4 Premier League games in a row. But, the team they lost to was Watford, a side that’s not considered to be among the greatest teams in England. Another reason why the loss to Watford is a bit disappointing is the fact that the match was played at West Ham’s turf.
And if you’re wondering why they lost a game in which they were slight favorites, the answer lies in their injury list. Several key men are missing from West Ham’s squad due to injury problems. And that’s been the case for several weeks now, which made the healthy ones work harder. In turn, they’re probably feeling tired and in need of a rest.
But, there’s no rest for them yet. They have to play 3 fairly winnable games in less than one week’s time, which puts a lot of pressure on them. Their plan was to win a lot of points in those three games (vs Southampton, Burnley, and Brighton), but their plans might go to waste because of the injury problems.
The Hammers are putting their hopes into their manager, who has plenty of experience dealing with high-importance games. You can be sure Manuel Pellegrini will prepare his boys to go out and try to win this game. Will they actually manage it? I’m not so sure…
Team News
Southampton absentees:
- Cedric Soares
- Ryan Bertrand
West Ham absentees:
- Marko Arnautovic
- Jack Wilshere
- Ryan Fredricks
- Andriy Yarmolenko
- Manuel Lanzini
- Carlos Sanchez
- Winston Reid
Possible Lineups
Southampton
McCarthy – Yoshida, Bednarek, Vestergaard – Romeu, Hojbjerg, Valery, Targett – Richmond, Armstrong, Ings
West Ham
Fabianski – Balbuena, Diop, Zabaleta, Masuaku – Noble, Rice, Snodgrass, Anderson – Antonio, Chicharito
Southampton vs West Ham Prediction
Since the new manager has been in charge, Southampton have been playing very attacking football. Their opponents want to win this game and the only way to achieve that is to fight back, not defend. Therefore, I think we’ll see a couple of goals here, probably on both ends.
Southampton vs West Ham Betting Tips
- BTS @1.67 (William Hill)
- Over 2.5 Goals @1.84 (1XBet)