West Ham have been fairly ambitious in the transfer market this summer but still find themselves overwhelming underdogs as they head to Old Trafford for their first game of the season. The bookmakers think it will be a foregone conclusion and are offering just 3/10 on Man Utd winning it, while West Ham are out at a huge 12/1. But last time these teams met at Old Trafford in the league it finished 1-1 and West Ham may well spring another surprise.
The Hammers had a bit of a torrid time of it last season but still managed to drag themselves to a mid-table finish. They are aiming to kick on and enjoy a far better campaign this time around and fans will be expecting them to make the top eight. This summer they bought Javier Hernandez, something of a cult hero during his time at Man Utd thanks to his habit of popping up with vital goals, and Marko Arnautovic from Stoke. Hernandez is Mexico’s all-time leading scorer and has a great eye for a goal, while Arnautovic will bring flair from wide areas, and it all means that West Ham will be far less reliant on the typically injured Andy Carroll. They also signed England number one Joe Hart on loan and he will relish the opportunity to keep Man Utd at bay. All in all, West Ham are not as bad as the odds suggest.
Of course, Man Utd are the better team on paper. They have spent more than £140 million bolstering their squad this summer and big things will be expected of Jose Mourinho’s men this campaign. They are now the tallest and strongest of all the teams that finished in the top six last season and they will be extremely hard to break down with Nemanja Matic marshalling the midfield. New boy Romelu Lukaku can do a similar job for Mourinho to the one Didier Drogba did for him during the Portuguese’s trophy-laden first spell at Chelsea, while Victor Lindelof bolsters the defence. But Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a huge loss, and Wayne Rooney was a big personality, so you could argue that Man Utd have not actually improved that much since last season.
They have strengthened defensively, but that was not a problem for them last season as they had one of the league’s best defensive records. Man Utd finished sixth because they scored far fewer goals than the teams above them, despite being able to call on the talents of Ibrahimovic, one of the finest strikers in world football. They failed to create enough chances and they have not addressed that problem yet this summer as no creative types have arrived. This could still be a huge issue for Utd and we will see how it pans out in this game on Sunday.
Man Utd may well win, but it would be surprising to see them absolutely blow West Ham out of the water. They are not an attacking side and prefer to keep things tight and disciplined and nick the odd goal here and there. That is the Mourinho way. Therefore it might be worth giving West Ham a plus handicap. You can get 8/15 at 888 Sport, Stan James and 188Bet on West Ham +2 Asian handicap. It has gone in from 6/10 earlier this week, but still looks a good bet as it is very hard to imagine West Ham losing by more than two goals. For more value you could push it in to West Ham +1.75, which is 7/9 with Bet Victor, or West Ham +1.5 at just above evens with the same bookmaker. Right now Man Utd are far too low to bother with and there is value backing West Ham not to get thrashed. A small stake on Hernandez to score at any time (4/1 with Betfair) might be interesting too as he will love playing against his former club and will be keen to show them what they are missing.
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