WILL DYER (@W2Dyer) shares his Super Sunday verdict from the Olympic Stadium.
West Ham v Bournemouth | Sunday 16.00 | Sky Sports 1
West Ham make their Premier League bow at the London Stadium, Olympic Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Stadium. Whatever it’s called!
There’s a feeling around the club, and amongst football fans from all over the country, that they might just be about to set some permanent roots in the top-half of the Premier League with this new 60,000-seater home.
The Irons host Bournemouth who had the honour of making it on my first Super Sunday preview last weekend. That game didn’t go as planned for me or Eddie Howe.
Bournemouth were more than competitive in the first-half but a defensive mix-up led to a tap-in for Juan Mata and heads seemed to drop after that point.
The scoreline might suggest the Cherries were dominated by United but that was not the case. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s clinical finish was pretty unpreventable and Anthony Martial’s off-target shot found Wayne Rooney for an easy finish.
Adam Smith scored a brilliant individual goal and you get the feeling that Bournemouth will be just one of the many sides that United will beat in a similar manner this season with Jose Mourinho at the helm.
The Hammers on the other hand had a pretty dismal run out at Stamford Bridge on Monday night. They were played off the park for much of the game. James Collins brilliant half-volley looked like robbing Chelsea of the win until Diego Costa made it 2-1 late on.
I expect we’ll see West Ham on the front foot much more in this fixture but this will be their third game in the space of seven days after a long mid-week trip to Romania in the Europa League and the injuries are already racking up.
Andre Ayew, Sofiane Feghouli, Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini are all out.
Luckily West Ham have an embarrassment of riches in midfield to cover for those players. It’s at the back where problems lie at the minute and Slaven Bilic isn’t helping himself by continuing to field Michail Antonio at right-back.
Antonio’s poor challenge gave Hazard the penalty on Monday night. I don’t think that would have happened with Sam Byram on the pitch; a more natural defender.
This fixture finished 4-3 to the Cherries last season and the reverse was won 3-1 by West Ham so both teams winning on their travels. Both teams started off with goal-laden games in the opening weekend and I think goals will be on the menu again here.
West Ham have now conceded 10 in their last four Premier League games and Bournemouth are without a clean sheet in 11 league matches.
Normally I’d tip a 2-1 or 3-1 correct score rather than the Match Result and Both Teams To Score market but I feel this game is pretty volatile so I’ll take Betfair’s generous 3/1 on that market.
Callum Wilson scored a hat-trick at the Boleyn last season and there’s a complete difference of opinion amongst the bookies on his chances of scoring. Bet365 go 13/8 but Marathon are a huge 7/2 on the English striker netting.
TOPICS Premier League TipsBest Bets
West Ham v Bournemouth – Callum Wilson to score at anytime (7/2 Marathon)
West Ham v Bournemouth – West Ham to win and Both Teams To Score (3/1 Betfair)
