England Premier League
Sunday 17th April 2022
Kick off at 2:15pm BST
Venue: London Stadium
Match Preview:
West Ham are on cloud 9 coming into this weekend and what a superb job David Moyes has done at the club as they continue to beat quality European teams. After knocking out Sevilla in the Europa League the Hammers beat Lyon 3-0 in France to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. They will face German outfit Eintract Frankfurt in what should be a memorable two legs.
Could anyone have guessed at the beginning of the season that West Ham would be playing in a European semi-final? That is only one part of the story, the other is that the Hammers by and large have been solid in the Premier League and haven’t quite given up on a top 4 finish. Of course if they win the Europa League they won’t need 4th as they would have also qualified for the Champions League. What incredible times these are for the Londoners who have gone over 40 years without a trophy.
It is clear though that after the historic’s of Thursday night the club will be focused on winning this game, as their league position could be jeopardised very quickly. That’s football for you and even after these highs it is still possible that West Ham will not be involved in any European football next season, so this game is a must win for them. The Hammers come into this game in 6th place and are six points from 4th and have played a game more than Tottenham and Arsenal who are in between them have played two games less so there is a real possibility that Champions League football won’t be happening for the club next season. Form is not good with three defeats from their last five games and there has been a lack of consistency. However at home it is 3 wins in a row, the last club they beat at home was Everton.
And Everton will be on the minds of Burnley as the club try and chase the Toffees for survival. But the only news swirling around this tie is the sacking of Sean Dyche after 10 years. Dyche was one of Burnley’s most successful managers although this campaign albeit for some nice speed bumps has been poor. The club will take a gamble and wonder is a shake up right at the last minute and bringing in someone new will do the trick? Who knows because Burnley really blew it last weekend as they lost 2-0 to bottom club Norwich this followed beating Everton.
There is a feeling with Burnley that they shot themselves in the foot last weekend and could have kept up the pressure on Everton but now they are 4 points behind 17th. Victory here though would pile the pressure back on the Toffees however a defeat would ease those worries for Everton. Burnley’s form is poor with 4 defeats from their last 5 and from their last 30 points the return is just 10 points.
Team News:
West Ham: Kurt Zouma is a doubt with an ankle injury and is only given a 50/50 chance to return for this game.
Burnley: Ben Mee (leg), Gundmundsson (calf) and Erik Pieters (knee) are all out long term, but there are no new injuries ahead of the game.
West Ham vs Burnley Head to Head:
Last season West Ham won this fixture 1-0.
The Hammers have remained undefeated against Burnley in the last 3 meetings.
3 of the last four meetings has seen under 2.5 goals.
West Ham vs Burnley Prediction:
This is a must win game for both sides and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if we were to see the clubs share the spoils here. The Hammers objective when it comes to the league has to be to finish in the top 6, anything less with the effort put in would feel a real blow for the club. They will know that finishing 4th with the amount of games they have already played will likely be beyond them. We have to factor in the midweek the club have just had to, and the players will be thinking of the Europa League semi-final too.
Burnley are a real unknown quantity now that Dyche has been sacked. Was it something that the players wanted? If so we could see a good reaction but the club will not be managed by someone that can steer them out of the danger zone at the weekend. The players need to put it all aside and fight here for any points, a win might be beyond them but they might just catch the Hammers slightly hungover from their midweek game.
West Ham vs Burnley Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (+1.0 Burnley) at 1.625
Half Time Correct Score: 0-0 at 2.75
Under 2.5 goals at 1.80
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