West Ham United v Arsenal Betting Tips

Saturday’s evening kickoff sees West Ham United host Arsenal. After such an impressive season last year, when West Ham finished seventh and dazzled so many with their scintillating football, it has been a complete downturn this season with Slaven Bilic’s side slumped in 16th position, just one point above the relegation zone.

Right now there seems little sign of The Hammers turning things around either as they last won back in late October and even that was against bottom side Sunderland. It must be said that they have had a few difficult opponents recently in the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, however, in comparison to last season when would have put in a decent display, they look lifeless and out of ideas.

Home form has been a particular problem for West Ham in their new London Stadium with just two victories in six attempts. Whilst it must be said that they are currently unbeaten in three at home, they should be beating the likes of Middlesbrough and Stoke City on their own patch.

The main problem for West Ham has been the defence with Bilic’s new system of a back three turning out to be pretty disastrous. The Hammers have the third worst defensive record in the league and even Sunderland have conceded fewer. They did actually concede a large number of goals last season (51) but their effectiveness going the other way meant they won most games. Attacking midfielder Dmitri Payet was The Hammer’s best player last season and he won many games on his own, however, with a lot of speculation hanging over his head, the Frenchman has gone right off the boil.

A match against Arsenal is hardly what you need when you are trying to turn things around.

The Gunners may have lost their midweek League Cup tie to Southampton but it must be said that the team was very much a second-string one. Arsenal will no doubt revert to type for this match away at West Ham.

Arsene Wenger’s team are on a decent run in the league at the moment and are still yet to lose since their 4-3 opening day loss against Liverpool. However, for a team looking to challenge for the title this season, three draws in their last five Premier League outings is pretty poor. They did win their most recent match at home to Bournemouth and will feel confident of making it two on the spin against West Ham.

Unfortunately, there is a three point gap between Arsenal and first place (a deficit which could increase by 17:30 on Saturday) and, with the other title contenders looking so good at the moment, it already looks like The Gunners will once again miss out this season.

Having said that, I still expect them to pick up a fairly comfortable victory against this poor-looking West Ham United side.

For something offering a greater return, ‘Arsenal to Win by Two or More Goals’, at 33/20, is the way to go. Arsenal are exceptional going forward and have only failed to score in two Premier League matches this season. Going up against a dodgy West Ham defence should not be a problem for a classy forward-line like Arsenal’s and they should be winning by at least a two goal margin here.

See more Premier League tips here.