Kick-off: 1400, 02/04/2023
Stadium: London Stadium
TV: Sky Sports
West Ham and Southampton are both in the bottom three but the Hammers look a percentage pick in this Premier League relegation battle.
The Hammers have been rock-solid at home since the turn of the year and will be determined to prevail here prior to a tough run of fixtures.
We’re prepared to take 3/4 for the hosts to come out on top in our first West Ham vs Southampton prediction.
Home comforts for Hammers
West Ham are only a point above bottom club Southampton but do have two games in hand and a much better goal difference.
David Moyes’ side have played five times at London Stadium in 2023, posting three wins and a couple of decent draws.
In the Premier League, United have seen off Everton 2-0 and Nottingham Forest 4-0, as well as sharing the spoils with Chelsea and Aston Villa.
The Hammers signed off for the international break by thumping AEK Larnaca 4-0 here in the Europa Conference League.
Jarrod Bowen hit a double that night in between strikes by Gianluca Scamacca and Divin Mubama.
West Ham made it a perfect 10 wins out of 10 in Europe and Manuel Lanzini wants them to replicate that form on the domestic front.
“When you win, you get more confidence,” said the Argentinian midfielder. “It’s good for the group and we hope we’ll be able to get more wins in the Premier League. That’s something we’ll continue to work on.”
Looking at the West Ham vs Southampton odds, we like 4/1 for a home win by exactly two goals.
Last West Ham line-up: Areola, Johnson, Cresswell, Zouma, Ogbonna, Fornals, Lanzini, Paqueta, Bowen, Soucek, Scamacca.
Saints fighting hard
Southampton have been showing spirit of late, securing two wins and a couple of draws from their last six league games.
A 3-3 stalemate with Tottenham at St Mary’s Stadium highlighted how Saints have no intention of going down without a fight.
They trailed 3-1 after 75 minutes but James Ward-Prowse struck with a stoppage-time penalty to level things up.
Che Adams and Theo Walcott were also on target and Ruben Selles declared: “We didn’t deserve to be 3-1 down.
“I think we put a good performance in on the pitch and it was simply too much.
“The game can go in another direction but you can see the togetherness from the captain to the rest of the team.
“Together with the crowd, we made an impact. We believed we could score. We made the second and then we got the third one. It was an absolute pleasure to be there.”
One period where Saints must improve, though, is between 30 minutes and half-time, when they have conceded a division-high 14 goals.
Punters can get 12/5 for the Hammers to score during that timeframe and that is added to our West Ham vs Southampton betting tips.
Last Saints line-up: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Perraud, Bednarek, Kotchap, Ward-Prowse, Elyounoussi, Lavia, Adams, Armstrong, Walcott.
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