West Ham United V Bolton Wanderers
Football : England : Premier League
Saturday 6th March 2010 - Kickoff 3pm

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Two teams locked in a battle to pull away from the drop zone above which they sit. Most will be watching Arsenal tear Burnley apart, but there is good value here on a home team in fine form.

West Ham United

It’s good to see the new owners of a club actually doing some good, for a change. With all the focus on how clubs are being ruined, or exploited, West Ham have quietly strengthened themselves and are slowly but surely pulling away from the relegation fight.

David Sullivan and David Gold, West Ham’s new owners, have dipped into their pockets and given Zola the money he required to inject some new blood into the team. The need for strikers has now been fulfilled, as the January window say Zola buy Benni McCarthy, Mido and Ilan join the Hammers.

Not long ago West Ham were struggling, but the normally cash-strapped club are now up to 13th on 27 points and are on a five match unbeaten run at home. It’s quite weird seeing West Ham priced as a favourite but it sounds about right as Bolton, under their new manager, seem a bit toothless of late, and are struggling badly, even worse so on their travels.

A lot of talk has been of the number of goals being scored by the Hammers, and so it’s easy to overlook the defence, which for me is where there has been some extraordinary improvement. West Ham have had problems at the back all season, yet Zola did nothing to strengthen it during the transfer window. He seems to have made the right decision, as the defence has now chipped in to do it’s bit in helping West Ham win games.

Matthew Upson has been outstanding of late, and is in the England squad thanks to his form. Robert Green, who has a point to prove seeing as he does not have a guaranteed position in the national squad, has now gone an amazing 4230 minutes without conceding a goal at home. For a keeper who not long ago was struggling with confidence, this is quite the turnaround.

The West Ham team aren’t quite yet completely out of the danger zone, in my opinion, and they will look to capitalize on their strong form at home, which is clicking thanks to the mixture of new and familiar faces. Against a Bolton side looking lost at the moment, I think they’re a good bet to score a few and tag another three points to their seasons tally.

Bolton Wanderers

Owen Coyle’s team halted their slide with a 1-0 win at home against Wolverhampton, but this is a side that hasn’t managed back to back wins in the Premier League all season. It’s actually been almost a year since they managed that.

In that last game, entertaining Wolverhampton, Bolton rode their luck to come away with a win. Wolves, as they did against Chelsea the week before, created more than enough chances, but their finishing let them down once again. A side with the attacking talent of West Ham will not waste such chances, and I reckon the floodgates could very well open if the Hammers go ahead early. Bolton allowed Tottenham to put 4 past them not long ago, and West Ham are more than capable of bagging two or three themselves.

As mentioned before, Bolton have been awful on the road. Their away record stands at 2-3-8, with the last away win coming all the way back in September. The more worrying statistic is that Bolton have not scored away from home since the middle of January, a run of four games, which is about as long West Ham have gone since they last conceded at home.

The Betting Verdict ;

There is a small chance Bolton keep this tight, but my money is on West Ham finally making the breakthrough and then running away with it scoring goals on the counter-attack. Home win.

The Picks:

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take West Ham to win @ 1.85 (Pinnacle) - main bet

Also consider West Ham to score 3 or more goals @ 4.00 (PaddyPower)