Southampton vs West Ham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2024-12-25 15:00.
[p]With each passing week, Southampton’s hopes of beating the drop get bleaker and bleaker, as they come into this Boxing Day clash with West Ham a whopping eight points adrift of safety. Bottom of the table, and six points adrift of 19th-placed Ipswich, only four sides to have spent Christmas Day at the foot of the Premier League table have ever gone on to avoid relegation, so new boss Ivan Jurić has a huge job on his hands. [/p]
[p]In the season for giving, the Saints will be hoping for a belated Christmas gift from the Hammers, but no wins in the last five home league H2Hs (D2, L3) would suggest their woes are set to deepen here. One thing which appears much more likely is that Southampton will leak goals, having conceded at least three in four of their last five home league games, while they were 5-0 down at half-time in their last game here against Spurs![/p]
[p]You’d have to go back to November 2009 for the last time West Ham scored five goals in a Premier League game, so that should at least give the hosts some hope of avoiding another crushing defeat. West Ham themselves have endured a turbulent season, with rumours rife at one point that Julen Lopetegui was battling to save his job, but he’s since strung together a three-match unbeaten run to ease the pressure a little (W1, D2). [/p]
[p]They still have work to do on the road though, where the Hammers have won just once in their last seven league matches (D3, L3). Six of those outings at least saw them hit the back of the net, which would suggest West Ham fans will have something to cheer here, albeit it also points to a porous back line that is behind West Ham’s recent travel sickness. [/p]
[p]Key battle: Jan Bednarek hasn’t scored in the league this season, but he did net Southampton’s winner in a 3-2 victory against West Ham on Boxing Day 2021. His primary role here may be to stifle Jarrod Bowen, who has seen four of his five goals this term close the scoring, with all five arriving after half-time.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Southampton are the only Premier League side not to have won a game they’ve led at half-time this season (D1, L1). [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]