Home matches are among the few opportunities for Burnley to collect crucial points. The importance of these fixtures increases when they host a direct rival in the relegation battle such as West Ham United, which adds significant pressure to this match-up. The sides are neighbours in the standings in 18th and 19th place, but the visitors are already five points ahead thanks to their recent upturn, while the hosts continue to drop points.
Burnley
Burnley have been collecting points mainly through draws, and with such a pace they risk slipping down into the EFL Championship. The previous round underlined these problems: against fellow newcomer Sunderland they suffered a heavy 0:3 defeat, which suggested that the second tier may well be where the Clarets are heading at the moment.
West Ham United
Burnley trail West Ham United by those five points, yet even for the Hammers the situation is far from comfortable. Nuno Espírito Santo’s side still have a six-point and eight-goal deficit to make up on Leeds United and Nottingham Forest. Successive victories over Tottenham Hotspur (2:1) and Sunderland (3:1) allowed them to reduce the gap to just two points, but they failed to close it further. They had to protect a two-goal lead against Chelsea, yet the second half showed why the two London clubs are so far apart: the Blues dominated 2.41-0.61 in xG in their favor and scored three unanswered goals.
Burnley vs West Ham United Prediction
However, Burnley are not Chelsea, and the match at Stamford Bridge demonstrated that West Ham United under Nuno Espírito Santo do have potential. Previous meetings between the hosts and the visitors have shown that both defences struggle, and even excellent goalkeeping has not always been enough to compensate. We believe that the Hammers are clearly the stronger side at the moment, so in our combination we will add the Double Chance on them.
