Premier League preview and odds: West Ham United vs Southampton

Published on: 27/12/2015

Premier League preview and odds: West Ham United vs Southampton

December 28, 2015 17:30pm - Boleyn Ground

Premier League

West Ham United will be aiming to break their drawing habit as they go in search of their first win in eight Barclays Premier League matches against unpredictable Southampton at the Boleyn Ground on Holiday Monday.

Hammers continue to manage without key players

West Ham United remain unbeaten in their last five games yet they are also winless in that time. A sequence of five draws in which they have managed just two goals, has seen the East London club slip down to 10th place in the Premier League table.

With several key players missing, the Hammers seem to be doing all they can to limit the damage during this difficult spell by adopting a defence-first approach. In their latest game, they played out a 1-1 away to rock-bottom Aston Villa and recorded their first goal in four games. Prior to that, they had taken part in three straight 0-0 draws.

Southampton produce Gunners shock

Just as everybody had begun to write Southampton off, they produced one of the performances of the season to condemn title contenders Arsenal to a 4-0 defeat on Boxing Day. The win broke a run of four defeats in five games for the South Coast side who currently occupy 12th place in the table.

Ronald Koemans men struggled to recover from a confidence-sapping mauling in the League Cup at the hands of Liverpool, but they showed no lack of self-belief as they strolled past one of Europes top 16 teams. They will now try to establish some consistency as they visit London to take on a faltering West Ham side.

Team news

West Ham could welcome back Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll, but James Tomkins, Aaron Creswell, Winston Reid, Victor Moses, Diafra Sakho and Dimitri Payet will all be missing.

The visitors will be without Graziano Pelle, Cedric Soares, Jay Rodriguez, Florin Gardos and Fraser Forster.

Recent form (League)

West Ham United: DDDDD

Southampton: WLLDL

Betting odds and tips

The home side only have two home wins to their name this term, and have drawn four of their last five at the Boleyn Ground. Meanwhile, the Saints have lost their last two away games and Saturday`s win marked their first victory in the last six games, home or away.

With West Ham proving hard to break down, yet another draw could be on the cards and can be backed at 12/5 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 27/12/2015

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (27/12/2015 18:49:29) but are subject to change.