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West Ham Vs. Bournemouth: Preview, Prediction, Predicted Line-Ups, Betting Odds, And Live Streaming

By Pradeep Nepal
Published on: 00:38 PST, Aug 21, 2016

West Ham vs. Bournemouth will take place in the new home ground of the Hammers, the London Stadium. The match will kick off at 4 p.m. BST, or 11 a.m. EST, and will be officiated by referee Craig Pawson.

West Ham: Team News

West Ham United started their Premier League campaign against London rivals Chelsea with a defeat. The Hammers were beaten by a late goal from Chelsea striker Diego Costa, after James Collins restored parity following Eden Hazard’s penalty goal. After the Premier League game, West Ham participated in Europa League qualifiers against little known club Astra, but were unable to win against the minnows. However, a draw in the away game scoring an away goal means West Ham are favorites to advance to the next round of the competition.

This Sunday afternoon, West Ham will welcome Premier League newcomers AFC Bournemouth in their new home, with the club ensuring they will play next 99 years in the Olympic stadium of London.

The game against Bournemouth will see West Ham star Dimitri Payet in the starting line-up, who joined the squad late following his participation in Euro 2016. The Frenchman, who was nominated for PFA player of the year, will hope to lift his team after their disappointing loss against Chelsea in the first game week of 2016-2017 season.

Meanwhile, the game against Chelsea ended on a bad note for club-record signing Andre Ayew, who picked up a serious injury during the game. Medical reports after the game indicated West Ham will have to wait two to four months to field their most expensive player ever.

West Ham manager Slavin Bilic confirmed Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini (both knee injury) will not take part against Bournemouth, nor will Diafra Sakho (back injury) and Sofiane Feghouli (hamstring injury).

Speaking ahead of the game, as reported by Sky Sports, West Ham manager Bilic said, “Don’t expect as many goals this season against Bournemouth as last! We analysed that game and we were disappointed to concede some.

“Credit to them though, because they pressed very high. But from our point of view, those goals were cheap to concede.

“I think Bournemouth have done clever deals in the transfer window. They buy young players. They are good as a unit and have pace. They did great last season and they have had a year of great experience as a team, club, manager and fans. I expect them to be better. Our stadium is not intimidating until we make it with the quality of our game.”

West Ham: Predicted Line-up (4-3-3)

Adrian — Antonio, Reid, Collins, Masuaku — Kouyate, Nordtveit, Noble — Calleri, Carroll, Payet.

Bournemouth: Team News

The AFC Bournemouth debut game in this new season resulted in a 3-1 loss against Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Juan Mata opened the scoring in the 40th minute of the game and additional goals from Wayne Rooney and new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic put Bournemouth to the sword. Moments later, Adam Smith scored one for the home side, but the goal couldn’t spark life into AFC Bournemouth players.

Howe has to improve his team’s performance against the Londoners if they are to take anything from this game, with West Ham playing really well at home last season.

In the pre-match press conference, as reported by the Evening Standard, Bournemouth manager Howe said, “I’m satisfied that we’re 99 percent of the way there.

“We don’t want to add too many more to the squad, there’s potentially one position we’ll look at – a younger talent. Unless we did that deal we will stay as we are.

“I do feel it’s a stronger squad than last year, we have more numbers and a very good work ethic. When you recruit you have to make sure you don’t lose your identity.”

Bournemouth: Predicted Line-up (4-3-3)

Boruc — Smith, Francis, S Cook, Daniels — L Cook, Surman, Arter — Ibe, Wilson, King

West Ham vs. Bournemouth: Head to Head

The rivals for Sunday match have played against each other a total of three times, with the Hammers winning twice and losing once against Bournemouth.

The Cherries win, however, came at the home of West Ham, winning the game 4-3. So it will be interesting to see whether the overall head-to-head record between these two teams will become 3-1 in the favor of West Ham or it will be a 2-2 draw.

West Ham vs. Bournemouth: Betting Odds and Tips

(Odds via Paddy Power)

  1. West Ham win: 7/5
  2. A Draw: 11/5
  3. Bournemouth win: 11/5
  4. Both teams to score: 4/6
  5. Both teams not to score: 11/10

West Ham vs. Bournemouth: Prediction

On paper, West Ham are slight favorites to win this game. Slaven Bilic’s men had a great campaign last season, finishing just four points off the Champions League places, and they are expected to pick up better results sooner rather than later. The return of their talisman, Dimitri Payet, in the starting XI will only help this cause. The loss against Manchester United has, no doubt, affected confidence of Bournemouth players, but the positive thing for the visitors is West Ham United are also coming into the game unable to win both of their games this season.

Final Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Bournemouth

West Ham vs Bournemouth: Live Streaming

The live streaming links for the game between West Ham and Bournemouth are provided here. If you are a premium customer of Hotstar, you can watch the match by clicking this link. We will update the given links just before the match starts so you can watch West Ham vs Bournemouth live streaming online.

[Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images]

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