Two clubs who look destined to be in a relegation battle in the Premier League this season meet at Elland Road on Friday night as 16th-placed Leeds United host 19th-placed West Ham United.
Leeds made a solid start to the season, picking up eight points from their opening six matches (W2-D2-L2), only losing away at Fulham and leaders Arsenal.
However, Daniel Farke’s men headed into the international break suffering their first league defeat at home since last September, losing 1-2 against Spurs, and returned from the break by losing 2-0 at fellow promoted side Burnley.
After losing four of their opening five Premier League matches this season, West Ham decided to sack Graham Potter and replace him with former Nottingham Forest manager Nuno.
The Portuguese head coach saw his new side claim a decent point away at Everton in his opening game in charge of The Hammers, but lost 2-0 at The Emirates against leaders Arsenal in the following game.
Whilst the defeat in North London was no surprise, their performance in their 0-2 loss at home to Brentford on Monday night was alarming, and they remain three points adrift of safety.
How the bookies view it: Leeds favourites
Despite losing each of their last two Premier League outings, Leeds come into this clash as favourites, with BOYLE Sports pricing a home success at 4/5.
West Ham are 10/3 underdogs to claim their first victory under Nuno, whilst the draw is 12/5.
Head to head: Hammers with the recent advantage
West Ham have lost just one of their last nine meetings with Leeds, winning five of the previous seven (W5-D1-L1).
Players to watch: Bowen to bag again?
Jarrod Bowen has been West Ham’s talisman for the past couple of seasons, and you feel that if The Hammers are to score on Friday night, he will be involved.
The England international has scored each of West Ham’s last two and three of their previous five Premier League goals, and the 7/4 on offer at Bet365 for him to Score or Assist seems too big.
Predicted line-ups:
Willy Gnonto and Noah Okafor are rated as major doubts for this clash, whilst Pascal Struijk and Ethan Ampadu are struggling with illness.
Konstantinos Mavropanos got injured against Brentford on Monday night and is ruled out, joining Niclas Fullkrug and George Earthy on the sidelines.
Leeds United: Darlow, Bogle, Rodon, Bijol, Gudmundsson, Tanaka, Longstaff, Stach, James, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin
West Ham United: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Diouf, Soucek, Irving, Bowen, Summerville, Fernandes, Paqueta
Anything else catch the eye?
These two clubs are amongst the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season, scoring just 13 goals between them, and it’s hard to envisage a high-scoring encounter here.
4/5 (80%) of Leeds’ meetings against bottom-half opposition have featured fewer than three goals – and given the same has landed in each of Nuno’s three games in charge of The Hammers – the 5/6 on offer for a repeat on Friday night appeals to me here.
GambleAware