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West Ham United vs Portsmouth

Premier League, England

Date: Saturday, December 26, 2009

Stadium: Upton Park

The two teams have been sitting in relegation zone for quite a while and this match is a good opportunity for one of them to boost their survival hopes. The Hammers finally notched up one good result as they draw with Chelsea, while Portsmouth inflicted Liverpool their seventh defeat of the season by beating them 2:0 at Fratton Park.The Hammers had big problems at the start of last season as well but things were not as difficult as they are now. Gianfranco Zola’s side are unable to record few good results in a row, although the good performance and one point from the Chelsea game will serve as a big morale boost. West Ham can take comfort in the fact that their home record is not so bad and that Portsmouth are pretty disappointing on the travels and we therefore recommend backing .The hosts enter this game in good spirits and they are aware the win over Portsmouth would take a lot of pressure off the players. Gianfranco Zola will have to do without centre-back Danny Gabbidon, who picked up a hamstring injury, which means young James Tomkins will partner fit again captain Matthew Upson. That is going to be the only change to the side that started the Chelsea game, thus the Hammers will again line-up in 4-3-3 formation with Franco, Diamanti and Collison in attack.Even though people will try to underestimate Portsmouth win over Liverpool since the Reds are indeed looking like a pub team this season, it still takes a big effort and a good performance for the rock bottom side to beat alleged title contenders. Slowly but steadily, Pompey are closing the gap behind safety, which now stands at just three points. As Jamie O’Hara recently admitted, the team adopted a bit more defensive approach under Avram Grant, and since they are struggling on the travels, we believe are worth a shot. If David James manages to recover in time to face West Ham, Avram Grant will have a full squad to choose from and if not, Asmir Begovic will keep his place between the sticks. The boss has no reason to change anything after the good performance against Liverpool, which means the visitors are set to line-up in 4-5-1 formation with Frederic Piquionne as a lone striker. West Ham are slowly raising their form and we believe this team have too much quality to stay in the relegation zone. The Hammers are the better team here and they are unlikely to have too many problems unlocking Portsmouth’s packed defence. Pompey are tend to struggle on the travels and we don’t see how they will get something from this match Results and goal’s highlights, will be available soon.. stay tuned.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 11:30 pm and is filed under England - Premier League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.