English Premier
2010-11-20 - Liverpool vs West Ham
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 20 November 2010 - Kickoff 5:30pm
This game is live on TV
Liverpool
If Roy Hodgson thought his teams form had turned for the better after a win over Chelsea, Stoke City did their level best to inform him that is not the case. To make matters worse for Liverpool, Steven Gerrard was ruled out for 4 weeks after England continued playing him beyond the 60 minutes that had been agreed before the game. Now they play against a team whose own manager is feeling additional pressure.
Liverpool dropped down to 11th in the Premier League table after falling to an easy 2-0 defeat at the Brittania Stadium last Saturday evening. That result came just 6 days after beating Chelsea at home and left the Reds with 16 points on the season. That total means they are almost directly in between having a run for Europe or getting dragged into a relegation battle. Liverpool are 3-2-1 at Anfield this season, scoring 9 goals and conceding 6.
The loss last week was the first suffered by the team in 7 games in all competitions and Liverpool had picked up 10 points from a possible 12 available coming into that game. They have won 3 in a row at Anfield in all competitions since losing 1-2 to Blackpool.
Injuries looked like they were mounting up coming into this game, but Roy Hodgson has had better news than the one given to him about Gerrard. Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Joe Cole, Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtal have all been passed fit to play although Lucas is suspended.
Possible Liverpool Line Up: (4-5-1)
Reina, Carragher, Konchesky, Skrtal, Krygiakos, Maxi, Poulson, Meireles, Jovanovic, Kuyt and Torres
West Ham United
If Roy Hodgson is on the hotseat at Anfield, Avram Grant's at Upton Park may have just got a little warmer after comments made by the owners during the week. While they gave the Israeli their full backing, it is clear that the fans are getting through to them and West Ham are in desperate need of picking up 3 points from anywhere.
The Hammers are bottom of the table courtesy of their goal difference, but 9 points from their first 13 games is desperately underachieving after the goals that were set out at the start of the season. This is also the 4th game in ones that were highlighted by David Sullivan a couple of weeks ago, a period when he expected his side to gain at least 7 points- they have only 3 at the moment with this one to play. West Ham are 0-3-3 away from home this season, scoring 4 goals and conceding 11.
They have now failed to win any of their last 7 Premier League games, drawing each of their last 3 since losing at Arsenal courtesy of a last minute goal. West Ham have lost just 1 of their last 5 away games in all competitions but they are yet to keep a clean sheet in any game away from Upton Park.
Avram Grant has doubts over the fitness of Ben Tal-Haim and Manual Da Costa. Kieron Dyer is out after limping off last week.
Possible West Ham United Line Up: (4-3-3)
Green, Jacobsen, Ilunga, Gabbidon, Upson, Parker, Noble, Behrami, Boa Morte, Obinna and Piquionne
Head to Head
Liverpool hold a strong recent record against West Ham, losing just 1 of their last 16 Premier League meetings and winning 12 of them, including the last 3 in a row.
This is much more impressive at Anfield where Liverpool have won 8 of the last 9 meetings between the sides, the only blip being a 0-0 draw here 2 seasons ago.
The last time they played here ended with a 3-0 win for the home side.
Prediction
Liverpool have had an up and down season and there is real pressure on Roy Hodgson to start stringing positive results together. The defeat to Stoke might have been taken if they had not performed as badly as they did.
West Ham are another side who are under pressure here although they are playing teams tough in recent games. The problem for the Hammers is that they are not winning games and they do not want to be cut off from the safety zone before we get to Christmas.
The problem for both teams is a definite lack of confidence. Neither defense has been rock solid this season, and the loss of Steven Gerrard also takes away some of the creative element in the Liverpool team.
I can see the Hammers looking to keep this tight as they did at the Emirates against Arsenal and look for a breakaway goal to steal the points. I cannot tip Liverpool to win at short odds, but instead will pick Under 2.5 goals in a game.
1 goal could win this game, and so I will take a shot with the Unders.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Liverpool 1-0 West Ham United
