Saturday, at 15:00, West Ham United and Southampton meet in the 37th Premier League, the penultimate season. “Hammers” receive a visit to a team that will make experiments on the final of the championship, which can help three points for the Londoners. We were expecting an open duel with gaps on both sides between two bold teams.
West Ham is on 11th place (45-54 Golaveraj) and no longer has emotions with relegation but can no longer fight for a European ranking. With three defeats in the last five stages, Manuel Pellegrini’s band has been involved lately in exciting games with many occasions, like Tottenham (1-0), Leicester (2-2) and Manchester United (1- 2). On the other side, Southampton is on 16th place (44-61 golaver) and chose correctly when he replaced the Welsh manager Mark Hughes, who led the team to the second league!
Under the command of Ralf Hasenhuttl, Southampton has turned into a very dangerous, inventive team that has become accustomed to score regularly. It also shows the latest scores: 3-3 with Bournemouth, 1-1 with Watford, 1-3 with Newcastle, 3-1 with Wolverhampton, 1-3 with Liverpool or 2-3 with Manchester United. Specifically, the “saints” have scored at least once in the last 9 consecutive stages, and the presence of Long, Redmond and Austin on the ground guarantees the show. The defenses of the two rivals do not seem to be ideal.
Austrian manager Ralf Hasenhuttl can not count on injuries Cedric, Davis, Hesketh, Hoedt, McQueen, Obafemi, Vestergaard and Yoshida, which leaves room for speculation about the “saints” starting team. A great supporter of the young players, Hasenhuttl could bet promising footballers such as Sims, Slattery, Alfie Jones or Tyreke Johnson, who are hoping to enter the rhythm of the competition before the end of the season, thinking about the next season. West Ham are not only Carroll, Fernandes, Hugill, Oxford, Reid and Yarmolenko.
In the tour, West Ham landed Southampton 2-1, after Felipe Anderson returned the score in favor of the “hammers”! Brazilian Lazio scored in minutes 53 and 59, after Redmond opened the score immediately after the break, for “saints”. It was the fifth straight consecutive duel with at least three scored goals, a draw that we once again expected, in a game without stakes, where fans hope to see a good rhythm.
WESTERN HAM – SOUTHAMPTON PROBABLE TEAMS
West Ham United: Fabianski – Fredericks, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku – Rice – M. Antonio, Noble, Snodgrass, F. Anderson – Arnautovic
Southampton: Forster – Bednarek, Stephens, Bertrand – Valery, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Lemina, Targett – Long, Redmond
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,49
