BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson is back to old ways predicting a 2-1 loss for the Hammers this weekend.
Lawro tells the BBC website “West Ham got a great result in beating Arsenal on Saturday, while Bournemouth’s defeat at Everton last week means they have lost nine of their past 12 league games.
I don’t think the Cherries have played especially badly in that time, which is one of the reasons I think they will return to winning ways on Saturday. They have a decent recent record against the Hammers too.”
Meanwhile, Sky Pundit Paul Merson predicts a 1-1 draw on the South coast.
Merse told the Sky Sports website “Bournemouth did OK at Everton – they probably deserved something out of it. Everton were hanging on. Eddie Howe’s boys feel more comfortable at home as their away record is horrendous – it’s something that will need to be sorted if they want to finish in the top 10. Tactically they don’t change much when playing away, which could be the problem.
Back at home they should be more than capable of getting a result but West Ham are in confident mood.”
Claret and Hugh Opinion
Lawro predicted a 2-1 loss for the Hammers last week against Arsenal while Merson predicted a 2-2 draw. Almost no-one predicted a win but yet again we raised our game against a big team.
Pellegrini is trying to instil a big team mentality in his team and a big team would expect to go to Bournemouth to get something. There are no easy games in the Premier League and no-one should be complacent but my prediction is a 1-0 away win against the Cherries.
Lets hope its a good omen, Bornemouth were very lucky to get anything from us in the first match but for two awful bits of defending.