Interesting that Sporting Life now have another piece which is more positive about WHAM after Nuno...
Football betting tips: MNF
1pt Jarrod Bowen to score anytime at 4/1 (Sky Bet)
1pt Lucas Paqueta to score anytime at 6/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)
Sky Bet odds |
Paddy Power |
Betfair
Kick-off: Monday, 20:00 BST
TV: Sky Sports Main Event
It was no surprise to see
Graham Potter leave West Ham, but the timing was odd.
24 hours after performing his pre-match media duties for this game the former Chelsea and Brighton boss was sacked. With the ink barely dry on that press release, recently jilted Nottingham Forest manager Nuno was appointed as his replacement.
It ends a painful spell for Potter, who won only six of his 25 matches in charge after following another disastrous appointment in Julen Lopetegui.
There is lots to say and write about both the Hammers' situation, and the fall from grace Potter has suffered since his days at Brighton, but given I'm writing this on Monday morning and Nuno's first game is less than 12 hours away, I'll leave all that for another day.
Jake has already looked at this match pre-managerial change, with a focus on
West Ham's terrible record defending set-pieces this season; I won't go over the same ground.
Instead, I'm prepared to have a little faith in the new Hammers boss.
For Nuno to be starting his reign away from the London Stadium is a godsend. West Ham fans have shown more than their fair share of anger with their owners both in recent weeks and towards the end of last season, with it unlikely to be a coincidence the club have not won at home since February.
While results haven't been
much better on the road, they have generally managed to make games more of a contest.
I'm not willing to go as far as backing the visitors, but with them such rank outsiders it is worth backing their most reliable men
TO SCORE ANYTIME at big prices.
Captain
JARROD BOWEN is 4/1 to find the net and
LUCAS PAQUETA is 6/1; I'd probably be backing Tomas Soucek too if he wasn't suspended.
Bowen has scored twice in his last three matches, with Paqueta failing to score in the Hammers' last two outings but finding the net in the previous three.
For as wonderful a job as David Moyes has done since returning to Everton, defensively they haven't been completely certain this term.
Their three clean sheets from seven fixtures in all competitions have come against goal-shy Aston Villa, League One Mansfield and in their first ever home game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium where Brighton somehow failed to score from 2.43 xG.