30/12/2018

BKHammer

So the last game of 2018 has arrived and what a run the Hammers are on, having won 5 of their last 6 league games and with 3 away wins on the trot.

Today we visit Burnley who themselves are going in the other direction.  They currently sit 19th in the table with 12 points and only 1 victory in their last 12 league games and they lost 5-1 in their last home game against Everton.  A far cry from their 2017-18 season when they qualified for European football.

Turf Moor is normally a good hunting ground for the Hammers who have picked up 7 points from their last 3 visits there.

Burnley have switched to a back 5 in the last 3 games but that has resulted in 3 straight defeats and 9 goals conceded so whether Sean Dyche sticks with that formation tomorrow who knows.

Pellegrini has been flirting between a 4-4-2 formation and a 4-5-1 formation in recent games really dependent on who’s been available to the Chilean genius.  Tomorrow he gets a major boost with the return of Marko Arnautovic to the squad and we believe he will start the game as one of two changes from the victory at Southampton by replacing Grady Diangana.  The other change will be club captain Mark Noble coming back in for Obiang after being rested for Thursday night’s game.  Michail Antonio should continue at right back as Pablo Zabaleta is not fully recovered from his virus.  The game also comes too early for Chicharito and Balbuena but they both should be back soon.

The Hammers will be clear favourites for this game but you can never rule out Burnley or their direct style of physical football.  The Irons will have to be patient tomorrow and hope their counter attacking game works wonders again on the road.

So I’m going for a 2-0 win with Arnie returning to the scoresheets alongside Snodgrass.

Predicted teams :

Burnley : Hart, Bardsley, Taylor, Mee, Tarkowski, Long, Cork, Westwood, Hendrick, Barnes, Vokes.

West Ham United : Fabianski, Antonio, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Snodgrass, Anderson, Arnautovic, Perez.