Eng. Championship
2012-04-28 - West Ham vs Hull City
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Championship
Saturday 28th April 2012 – Kickoff: 1230hrs
Not quite high noon but third placed West Ham are in a straight shoot-out with second placed Southampton for the right to join the division champions Reading back into the Premiership.
Both Southampton and West Ham are at home which is obviously a welcome advantage at this stage but face very different opponents.
West Ham (3rd)
Home : 10-8-4 39/25
West Ham have lost just once in the last seventeen matches which, perhaps unsurprisingly, was a 2-4 defeat to Reading who are now Premiership-bound having spent just 2M in the summer, and manager Brian McDermott could be set for a bigger stage, who knows?
Anyway, back to West Ham and manager Sam Allardyce will have no need in firing his players up for this one; quite simply, they must win and win well in order to replace Southampton at the eleventh hour in second place and break the south coast hearts.
West Ham’s home record stands at 10-8-4 39/25 have drawn six of their last eight at Upton Park which might have cost them an automatic promotion spot, but an emphatic 6-0 thrashing of Brighton in their last home match sets them up for a grand finale here this afternoon.
Leading scorer, Carlton Cole (12 goals, 4 assists) looks to be fired up and has solid support from creative midfielder Kevin Nolan (11 goals, 5 assists), Ricardo Vaz Te (10 goals) and ammunition duly supplied by messrs Noble and Taylor who have contributed 17 assists between them.
Hull City (8th)
Away : 7-7-8 18:20
Visitors Hull City missed out on the play-offs and quite frankly didn’t deserve to figure in the final phase having been ‘dour and dull’ for the majority of the season. They are the fourth lowest goalscorers away from home in the Championship, yet they currently hold 8th spot.
The Tigers have won just once in their last eight on the road which was a surprising 3-0 win at Cardiff City back in mid-March, but again, too many draws and firing too many blanks on the road (seven) has cost them a shot at the big-time and must wait another season for a tilt at the Premiership.
Hull’s away record stands at 7-7-8 18/20, but they do have a couple of key players that West Ham will be more than aware of; striker Matty Fryatt (16 goals) and midfielder Robert Koren (10 goals) but they cannot do it all for the most part on their own.
The Betting Verdict :
West Ham will be fired up for this one with the chance of gaining automatic promotion, and with Saints having choked recently against Middlesbrough and their south coast rivals Portsmouth, anything could happen against Coventry – it’s unlikely but West Ham will want to score a few goals here.
I’ll back the Hammers to cover the AH-1 with a 3-1 home win. But will it be enough?
The Pick :
West Ham 3-1 Hull City
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
