West Ham United take on AFC Bournemouth at the London Stadium this Saturday as Manuel Pellegrini looks to pick up his first competitive win as the new Hammers boss.
West Ham lost their first game of the new season 4-0 to Liverpool but almost everyone hopes that the London outfit will pick up all three points vs the Cherries this weekend.
But pundit Mark Lawrenson has gone on to claim that Manuel Pellegrini’ side will lose points on Saturday.
Lawrenson has predicted a 1-1 draw because he feels Bournemouth will exploit that one major flaw in the West Ham team.
Lawrenson said: “I was at Anfield on Sunday to see West Ham United’s 4-0 defeat by Liverpool, and they were far too open,
“New Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini has bought a lot of attacking players and probably wants to play in a way that gives his side’s fans something to get excited about. But if they are going to keep leaving the back door open like that all season, they are going to be in trouble.
“If Pellegrini had set up in 4-5-1 and sat deep, I would have understood, but Liverpool carved them open almost at will – and the scoreline could have been a lot worse.
“Bournemouth are not a team I consider to be one of the strongest on the road, but they always pick up some decent away points and I quite fancy them to get something here.”
A lot of people have blamed West Ham United’s loss against Liverpool to the fact that the manager chose to play a large number of new players in his first eleven.
But former Liverpool striker Michael Owen feels that the Hammers will pick up all three points against the Cherries given that they have had one more week to training together as a team.
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