Joe Short’s West Ham v Huddersfield statsfest

TONIGHT'S Premier League game is tough to call meeting between West Ham and Huddersfield.

Unibet blogger Joe Short has put together some stats that may give you some guidance when deciding whether to have a punt.

Huddersfield and Manchester United are the only two teams not to have conceded a goal after three league outings and the Terriers face a West Ham side leaking 3.3 goals per game.

West Ham and Huddersfield have not met in the league since 1972, yet Huddersfield boast a W17 D6 L7 league record against the Hammers that stretches back to 1919.

They met 21 times in the inter-war years, after which most of their battles took place in the old Second Division. More recently the Hammers won 3-0 in a League Cup clash in September 1997, with John Harrison scoring all three goals at Upton Park. West Ham have scored just twice in the league this season and are finding goals hard to come by.

Huddersfield have not conceded a top-flight goal since April 1972. They were relegated in the 1971-72 season but kept a clean sheet on their final match of the campaign, a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace. Town beat Palace 3-0 on the opening day of this season and will hope to make it another clean sheet in London on Monday night.

They have won two and drawn one from three league games this season and only four teams – Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham – have withstood fewer shots per game (11) than the Terriers.

Huddersfield also topped the tackle count (23 per game) after three game weeks and were second only to Chelsea for most fouls (16.3 per game). Despite their attractive football they like to keep things tight.

Joe Hart has conceded as many goals (10) in three Premier League matches for West Ham as he did in his last 10 league games for Manchester City

West Ham ditched a lot of players over the summer and manager Slaven Bilic focused on strengthening his forward line, with Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic the two big arrivals, while veteran freebie Pablo Zabaleta arrived at the back.

Defensively the Hammers look the most unstable they’ve been since they were last promoted to the Premier League in 2012. This is already the cliched relegation six pointer. If West Ham don’t shore up at the back soon their rivals will be too far off for them to catch up.

Hernandez has scored twice for West Ham this season but has recorded just two shots in the first half of matches. Until Andy Carroll comes back he’s got to carry a heavy burden.

The Mexican barely got a sniff in West Ham’s away thrashings at Manchester United and Newcastle. His double in the defeat to Southampton was at least some positive but the Hammers are struggling to get into games early.

They’ve been losing at half-time in all three of their league games and that is a major concern for the attack as much as the defence. Hernandez will lead the line in Arnautovic’s absence due to suspension. He’ll be up against Mathias Zanka and Christopher Schindler in central defence. He’ll need support against this strong partnership.

West Ham won seven league games at the London Stadium last season, only two fewer than at Upton Park the previous campaign

West Ham return to the London Stadium for the first time this season after it was used for the 2017 World Athletics Championships during the summer. Last season the Hammers struggled to make their new home the fortress Upton Park could often be.

They finished 16th in the Premier League’s home table yet ninth in the away table. Unfortunately for Bilic the Hammers’ away form over the past three league games has deserted them so getting back to winning ways in east London is vital.

Match prices

• West Ham (42-41, Unibet)
• Draw (28-11, Unibet)
• Huddersfield (58-19, Unibet)
• Hernandez to score first (18-5, Unibet)
• Huddersfield to score (5-12, Unibet)

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