Written by billythekid
After our last league defeat against Liverpool at home, the Cherries came back with a moral boosting winning performance against Swansea City at Dean Court in the FA Cup as they go into their next league game. That game is away at the London Stadium against West Ham on Thursday night at 7.30 pm, it will also be shown on TNT Sports. With West Ham in 6th spot, this will be another tough away game.
David Moyes is expected to sign a new extended contract with West Ham, reported to be two-and-a-half years. This is after rumours/murmurs re his position at West Ham last season, which was Moyes’s worst full season in charge, since his return to the club in December 2019.
This season David Moyes and West Ham are having a good season in the Premier League, after 21 games they are in 6th position with 35 points, so if previous seasons at this stage are anything to go by, they could be on course for a top-seven finish. Their previous positions at the same stage after the same number of games is below.
In the 2020-21 season, West Ham had 35 points and were in 5th place. 2021-22 season after 21 games, the Hammers were 4th with 37 points. 2022-23 season after 21 games, they were 16th with 19 points, this was David Moyes’s worst season since his return. But at the end of the season West Ham finished in 14th place with 40 points, six points clear of the first relegation place. The Cherries were one place and one point behind West Ham.
Our first game of the season at Dean Court against West Ham, finished honours even in a 1-1 draw. Since then at their home at the London Stadium, West Ham have beaten Chelsea, Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Wolves and Manchester United. They have drawn with Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Brighton. Lost against Manchester City and Everton. Away from home they have won 5, drawn 2 and lost 4.
Our last away game against West Ham was last season in October 2022 and goals from Kurt Zouma on half-time and a penalty by Benrahma in the 92nd minute sealed the three points for West Ham.
West Ham United v AFC Bournemouth
West Ham Win
Draw
AFCB Win
In all our away games against West Ham, AFCB W 2, D 1, L 4.
In all competitions, AFCB have W 4, D 6, L 8.
West Ham Team News
Kalvin Phillips has signed on loan from Manchester City. Said Benrahma and Vladimir Coufal are suspended. Lucas Paqueta, Michail Antonio, Edson Alvarez all been out injured. Nayef Aguerd is away on international duty.
West Ham Player To Watch
The leading scorer with 11 league goals is Jarrod Bowen. Now back from international duty, Mohammed Kudus scored 4 goals in six league appearances during December. James Ward-Prowse is always a threat, especially at set pieces and has scored 4 goals and has the most assists this season with 6. In his last six games, he has scored 1 goal and had 1 assist.
AFCB Team News
James Hill, our third right back now been added to the injury list. He went off injured in the FA Cup game against Swansea City. We now have Antoine Semenyo back from international duty, even though he was on the bench in our recent cup game, he was unused.
AFCB Player To Watch
Dominic Solanke hasn’t gone more than two league games this season without scoring. So he is due to score on Thursday night against West Ham. He has scored 5 goals in his last six league games.
The Referee
Tim Robinson is our referee at the London Stadium. He has been in charge of two of AFCB’s other games this season. Both played at Dean Court and both London clubs, Spurs and Fulham.
Matt Stevenson added…
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for W Ham. These were two home games (Man U and Brighton) and away at Arsenal and Shef Utd. W Ham were unbeaten and gained 8 points although the XGs suggested this was a great overachievement with 2 being more likely. W Ham have scored 6 goals and conceded 2 with xG estimating 5.69 goals with 8.69 conceded, it would be hard to believe that West Ham can keep outperforming their xGc. Ignoring the last 4 games their xGc is 29.64 with 30 goals conceded suggesting the last 4 games’ data are just a blip.
W Ham have had 6 different goal scorers with one goal each and Ings with 2 assists and 3 players with 1 assist each.
The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. West Ham often look to counterattack (as borne out by low possession stats). Against Arsenal nearly all of the players averaged a position in their own half, however, somehow West Ham won this game 2-0.
The following graph compares summary stats of W Ham and AFCB over the last 4 games. On the underlying stats AFCB are doing well with more goal attempts, similar big chances, xG and goals scored, but have much better stats defensively for attempts conceded and big chances conceded. W Ham are doing markedly better on goals conceded but this feels like an outlier.
W Ham have a low percentage possession over the last 4 games at 33%, with AAFCB approaching 505. W Ham are good at set pieces, with a higher percentage of chances from set plays and a lower percentage of chances conceded from set plays.
