West Ham United V Burnley Betting – Saturday 28th November

West Ham United V Burnley

Kick-off: Saturday 28th November – 15:00 GMT

Venue: Upton Park

West Ham United

League Position: 17th

Recent Form: DDWLD

It’s been a terrible start to the season for Gianfranco Zola & his Hammers side and matters didn’t improve a whole lot when they could only manage a draw away at Hull City, a team that were reduced to ten men during the second period. In fact, it was actually a dreadful result when you consider that West Ham took an early 2-0 lead before simply capitulating, shockingly going in at the break 3-2 down. The prices you would have got on Hull leading at half-time when they were 2-0 down would have been colossal, but Hull proved it was do-able and West Ham proved to us all that confidence, especially in their defence, isn’t all that high right now.

In thirteen league outings thus far, West Ham have managed just the two wins. A 2-0 victory away at Wolves on the opening day of the season and a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Upton Park, winning 2-1. Just one of those came at home and West Ham’s home record now stands at 1-2-3, and their recent home defeat to Everton, losing 2-1, will have hindered West Ham’s recovery bid.

Although West Ham’s performances against Arsenal & Everton at home were far from satisfactory, the Hammers have generally played OK at Upton Park, although, those two games we just mentioned are two of the most recent and as the old adage goes “You’re only as good as your last game”, and if that’s to be true, West Ham’s credentials to win this very fixture have taken a serious dip. They have started to open another win less rut, the defeat to Everton and the draw with Hull now meaning West Ham haven’t won in two games.

If West Ham are to survive this season then they seriously need to start bolstering their points tally at home, in front of their loyal fans. Out of a possible eighteen, West Ham have managed to register just five points at home this season, and their league position of 19^th, one off the bottom, comes as no surprise. However, scoring hasn’t been a problem for them at Upton Park, managing ten already, but keeping it neat and tidy at the back has been. Robert Green has seen twelve fly past him in the six home fixtures to date, of which the England keeper has yet to register his first home clean sheet of the campaign.

Burnley

League Position: 10th

Recent Form: LLWDD

Burnley were warming up nicely to their tag of ‘Worst away team in the league’ before pulling a rabbit out of the hat with a superb point at The City of Manchester Stadium, home of Man City. That was Burnley’s most recent away outing, a 3-3 draw with free-spending City, but has that point simply plastered over their away cracks which had previously seen them lose five away games on the bounce. We shall certainly see as they travel to the Capital to take on an out-of-sorts West Ham side.

Burnley have been the surprise package this season, but have pretty much remained unwrapped on the road. In six away outings, Burnley have lost five of them, although their most recent was a scintillating 3-3 draw at Man City, a game they actually led 2-0 at one stage. Those three goals against Man City took their away goals for tally to a meagre five, whilst it’s done little to hide their abysmal away defensive record, having conceded 20 away goals already this season, a scary statistic for a club that were relegation favourites at the very beginning of the season.

Burnley’s defence is quite clearly what has let them down so far, especially when on their travels. However, we mustn’t forget to mention that their early away fixtures were torrid – Stoke City, Chelsea, Liverpool & then Tottenham. Those were Burnley’s opening four away fixtures so it’s no surprise that they struggled for away points and that their away defensive record looks shabby. However, that doesn’t let them off the hook as there is no excuse for bad performances and Burnley have generally performed bad on the road in our opinion. They don’t have too many problems creating chances, although scoring has been an apparent issue, but their defending at times has been woeful. 

0-1-5, their Win-Draw-Lose ratio on the road this season, while 5-20 is their Goals For & Against. Both make for hard reading, especially if you’re a Burnley supporter, but perhaps the 3-3 draw with Man City was a sign of things to come. A trip to face a struggling West Ham provides them with a glorious opportunity to not only bolster their dire away points tally of just one point, but also to notch up their first away win of the season. However, although they were superb in their last away outing, we can’t see them beating West Ham on their own patch, with the defence their Achilles heel at current.

Head-to-Head (Last 10):

West Ham United W: 0 Burnley W: 0 Draws: 0

With this being Burnley’s first ever season in the Premiership, Saturday’s game will be the first these two have met in the English top flight, the Premiership that is. Both will be eager to get the ball rolling, though.

Match Verdict:- West Ham United to WIN – 1.85 Expekt

It’s been a stop-start season for West Ham up till now, mainly just stop, but they won’t get many easier opportunities to win a game of football in the league then a home fixture with a homesick Burnley side. If West Ham do want to keep hold of their Premiership status and steer well clear of the drop then they will need to win the vast majority of their home fixtures, especially against the very beatable side. Burnley certainly fall into that category and if they do fail to seize on this chance then serious questions need to be asked over whether Gianfranco Zola actually has what it takes to stick it out in a relegation scrap.

Match Odds:

West Ham United – 1.85 Expekt

Draw – 3.75 SportingBet

Burnley – 4.80 BetFred

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Over 3.5 Goals – 3.25 VCbet