By Gerard McGovern from London, United Kingdom – Olympic StadiumUploaded by BaldBoris, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20512002
West Ham’s shambolic defending continued on Sunday as they were completely outplayed by Southampton to lose 3-0. We made the point last week that Slavan Bilic took over from a defence-minded coach, which meant there was an emphasis on improving their attacking game. Initially it reaped rewards but more recently it has come at the cost of defensive stability and now their all-round game.
The Hammers didn’t register a shot on target against Fraser Forster and it was the first time they’ve failed to trouble the scorers in 18 league matches. We don’t expect Middlesbrough to dominate them here as the Saints did so the likes of Lanzini and Payet should get a chance to come into the game. They’ve now conceded two or more goals in 13 of their last 16 league matches resulting in 15 finishing with at least three goals.
Boro gave themselves too much to do in the second-half against Spurs and were only able to reduce their two goal deficit by half. It does mean they’ve now scored in five of their six Premier League games as four have finished with at least three strikes. With West Ham certainly an ‘overs’ side, O2.5 goals looks a safe bet here.
Best Bet: Over 2.5 Goals at 1.95
