Irrepressible Allardyce Can Make Light Work Of Hull

Premier League

Football
Published: 15/09/2014

Tonight sees Sam Allardyce`s West Ham United head to Hull, the Yorkshire side being a team against whom the Hammers have consistently picked up points. From their seven previous encounters the Newham-based side have emerged with five wins, a draw and a solitary loss though will have to be at their best to stem the pressure on under-fire manager, Allardyce.

Despite history being against them, Hull have been made 6/5 favourites (paddy Power, Bwin) with an away victory being priced as large as 3/1 (Betvictor). A very generous price on a team led by an irrepressible manager who will know that a journey up north will be one of his better chances of collecting all three points. Betbright have 40/17 on a draw.

Twelfth placed Hull have hardly set the Premier League on fire, racking up four points from three winnable games. They will, however, be looking to right the wrongs of their defeat at the hands of Aston Villa (31st August) and their earlier than expected exit from the Europa League. Unfortunately for manager Steve Bruce, however, City could be without the services of three of their transfer deadline day deals. Club-record signing, Abel Hernandez misses the game as he waits on his work permit whilst Hatem Ben Arfa and Gaston Ramirez are not expected to start with both lacking match practice. Interestingly, Mohamed Diame, who signed from West Ham on 31st August, is anticipated to make his debut at the KC Stadium. Whilst the £3.5 million transfer is not known for his goals, the Senegal captain is 13/2 (888sport, Titanbet, 32red) to cause his former boss a headache and pinch a debut goal.

Whilst the Greater London side have two new faces at their disposal in Barcelona loan signing Alex Song and Frenchman Morgan Amalfitano, comments from Allardyce`s pre-match press conference suggest that they may not get a full 90 minute run.

`Alex has had a pre-season at Barcelona but no games, So he`s hugely short of match practice. Morgan has had some games but had 10 or 12 days when he didn`t train because he was sorting out his move back to England.`

Much like Diame, neither midfielder is famed for his impressive strike rate with 888sport, unibet and 32red offering odds of 19/2 and 19/1 respectively on Amalfitano and Song finding their names on the score-sheet.

Perhaps, though, punters should focus less on the identification of potential goalscorers and more on the possible score outcomes, with history revealing a number of interesting trends. In the last four match-ups between the teams, the game has been decided by one goal. Last season, West Ham`s visit to the KC ended in a 1-0 defeat, whilst the return game was a 2-1 Hammers home win. Allardyce`s men also ran out victorious when beating the Tigers 2-1 in their Championship play-off winning season (2011/12).

In light of this, both bet365 and Skybet have Hull down at 11/4 to snatch victory by a solitary goal, with West Ham 17/4 (boylesports, Betvictor) to seal a much needed win with a one goal cushion. Our tip is a correct score prediction of 1-0 in favour of the Hammers with odds of 10/1, though plumping for a 2-1 victory for the London side gets you a price of 14/1 (Both bet365 and Betvictor).

It is also worth considering that the home side have had a player sent off in three of their last four matches against tonight`s opponents. paddy Power are 9/1 on one of Steve Bruce`s men continuing the trend.

Go To bet365
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Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (15/09/2014) but are subject to change.

15/09/2014     © Frixo 2024

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