West Ham v Wolves Preview
So, this is it, the rubbish commentator’s dream match as West Ham and Wolves prepare for a relegation 6-pointer, a basement battle, a season-defining clash, or whichever cliché you hate the least really. With Wolves currently a point better off than the Hammers after Saturday’s impressive draw at Aston Villa, the onus is most certainly on the home side to come out and win this one, and should they fail to do so here, Zola’s struggling side will be in massive bother and very short on games left that you’d fancy them to win.Inevitable defeats to Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal in their last 3 away matches have seen West Ham remain marooned in trouble, though it was the 2-1 home defeat against Bolton that was sandwiched in between the United and Chelsea games that has really hurt. It was also something of a surprise after comfortable wins over high-flying Birmingham and another of the struggling sides, Hull, in their previous 2 home games as they looked to be finally pulling clear of trouble. Therefore you could argue that the Bolton result was a blip, what with a 5-game unbeaten run at Upton Park preceding it, and the good news for the home side is the likely return of skipper Scott Parker after a few games out injured, while Herita Ilunga should also return as he nears full fitness, and those 2 are both massive players in a side made up from a paper-thin squad. All of which means that you’d probably favour the home side to complete the double over Wolves, and the 4/5 offered by Blue Square about the home win is likely to be well backed.
It would still take a fair bit of guts to back them with any degree of confidence at odds-on, however, and recently Wolves have shown plenty of signs that they have enough quality to stay in the Premier League. Having been rather unlucky in losing at home to Man United a couple of weeks ago, they secured a massive win at Burnley before Saturday’s fine point at Villa Park, and their form is currently a lot more convincing than West Ham’s. At 7/2, the value is surely with Wolves in the Win/Draw/win market then, though you’d hardly want to pile into Mick McCarthy’s men either, so Wolves at 12/5 in the Draw No Bet market could be a good way to go.
I always like the Goalscorer Match Bets, and having been a bit unlucky after tipping Torres to beat Rooney at 4/1 on Sunday, I’m going to dip a toe again for this one. Carlton Cole (9 league goals) v Kevin Doyle (6) is the match up, and it’s interesting to note that 4 of Doyle’s goals have come away from home, while 7 of Cole’s have come at Upton Park. Those stats would suggest that this match should suit both of them then, and perhaps that’s why we see a rather large 9/4 available about Cole, while Doyle is 4/1. At those prices I’d side with the West Ham man every time, and having scored in both their recent home wins over Hull and Birmingham, he’ll be itching to reach double figures in this one.
Looking around at some of the bigger outside bets, you could probably do worse than backing Wolves to win having been behind at an eye-catching 20/1. The Upton Park crowd will definitely not be counting their chickens should their side go ahead, and having seen Burnley fight back from 5-0 to finish up 5-3 here earlier in the season, you know that the Hammers can get nervous in front of their own fans. With the magnitude of the situation, anything could happen here, so that could well be worth a few quid.
As such, the evens available on there being more than 2.5 goals is really asking to be backed, and as it’s so difficult to say which way this one will go, I’d lean towards a Correct Score of 2-2 at 16/1 as another outside bet. This really does look like one of those games where you just want to be on some of these bigger prices and just wait to see what unfolds amongst the likely spells of shambolic defending, the nervousness of the fans, and the even greater nervousness of some of the players. How about Carlton Cole to score first and the match to end 1-2 to Wolves at a whopping 140/1? Must be worth a quid.
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Author: Stephen Irvine
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rjfitiqqbzg | 10 Apr 2010 at 10:52