West Ham United vs Bournemouth preview, team news, tickets & prediction

There is a sequel to the season’s opening game when West Ham plays hosts to in-form Bournemouth. Here is a preview. 

Sixth-placed West Ham are home to a Bournemouth side looking to leave the bottom half of the Premier League table. This should be a physical game between two motivated sides, and it could certainly go either way. 

Dominic Solanke grabbed a late equalizer for the Cherries on Andoni Iraola’s managerial bow when these two sides last met in the South Coast. That draw ended a run of three straight defeats against the Hammers, and Bournemouth would be hoping to beat David Moyes’ men finally.

The 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League winners are set on more considerable achievements this season and they will be glad with how they have managed expectations so far. They will also be delighted at the contributions of each of their summer recruits to those fortunes. 

West Ham started the campaign with a draw and three victories before losing successive games to Manchester City and Liverpool. There were three more defeats in their next five league games but the Hammers turned it around with three wins and a draw from the following four league matches. 

However, they suffered their heaviest-ever away defeat in a London derby against Fulham who ran riot with a 5-0 victory. Since then, Moyes’ side kept clean sheets in their final four league games of the year during which they also beat Manchester United and Arsenal. 

They will have faced Bristol City (FA Cup) and Sheffield United before taking on Bournemouth, so they will still hope to have momentum on their side.

For Bournemouth, the sacking of Gary O’Neil on the eve of the season was a less-than-ideal buildup and those fears were realized early as they drew West Ham and Brentford while losing to Liverpool and Tottenham in the first four games.

Andoni Iraola navigated a nervy start to his tenure as they failed to win any of their first nine games in the Premier League. 

A scoreless draw with Chelsea started a run of four straight defeats during which they found the net only twice. However, goals from Antoine Semenyo and Philip Billing gave them their first win of the season against Burnley and they built on it with three wins and a draw in the next five league matches.

Bournemouth’s biggest result of the season came in a 3-0 win at Old Trafford and they scored three times in the next two matches against Nottingham Forest and Fulham but ended the year with a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham.

The Cherries have been much better in recent weeks and they now sit three points behind mid-table in 12th position. There is a feeling that they can achieve something significant this season and they must keep raising the table to accomplish that. 

Thus, a result at West Ham would be good for morale as they face the decisive part of the season. Bournemouth are going to be faced with an equally physical side, and the one-on-one battles would be key. 

Match tickets

The match is scheduled for Thursday, February 1 with kick-off at 7:30 PM UK time. Match tickets have been made available for sale on each club’s website for season ticket holders and club members to receive their allocations. 

The game will be aggressive with many physical challenges so the West Ham fans will be up for the occasion and you can very much expect the London Stadium to be sold out for this fixture. Getting tickets this close to matchday may be complicated through official sources.  

Traveling supporters could be the most affected but they may be lucky enough to find West Ham vs Bournemouth tickets on a ticket resale site.    

Team news

Thankfully, David Moyes should be able to call upon the likes of Michail Antonio, Kurt Zouma, Lucas Paqueta and Vladimir Coufal after recent injuries. However, Nayef Aguerd and Mohammed Kudus may miss out having already joined up with the Morocco and Ghana squads for AFCON 2023.

Bournemouth’s Hamed Traore, Tyler Adams and Ryan Fredericks are all unavailable due to injury while the pair of Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo are away on international duty.

On a positive note, Darren Randolph and Emiliano Marcondes could be available for selection for this game. 

Line-ups

The Irons would be delighted to welcome back some key players into the fold as they must continue their impressive results to follow through on their hopes of European qualification this season. 

Antonio’s involvement potentially off the bench could be key for West Ham as his physical presence up front provides the team with a focal point to build their deadly counterattacks around.  

West Ham: Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Emerson; Soucek, Alvarez; Paqueta, Ward-Prowse, Benrahma; Bowen

Continuity is vital for the in-form Cherries as they plot to continue their ascent up the Premier League standings. Iraola would nevertheless be desperate for the return of some injured stars who would increase the quality in their ranks. 

Their most important player is Dominic Solanke who is enjoying his best-ever goal tally in a single Premier League season. Bournemouth must continue to create service for the striker as his performance would be critical to any positive result. 

Bournemouth: Neto; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez; Christie, Cook; Kluivert, Billing, Tavernier; Solanke 

Prediction

West Ham are higher on the Premier League table but this clash would be determined by who wants it better on the day so both sets of players must be at their best. The hosts attempting to hit Bournemouth on transitions at every given opportunity would be an interesting watch, it is up to the Cherries to be tactically disciplined and clinical in the opponents’ box.

Expect goals in this end-to-end encounter, a scenario that appears to favour the Hammers who have the firepower and game management to secure maximum points. This could well go down as an epic encounter 

West Ham 2-1 Bournemouth