West Ham United face AFC Bournemouth this evening. The Hammers are three points from safety, yet are one of the Premier League’s form sides. The same can be said for their opposition, with the Cherries unbeaten in their last five games. Andoni Iraola’s team may have a different objective to West Ham, but points are equally important to both teams.
The Premier League’s record goal scorer, Alan Shearer, has delivered his verdict on the huge match, acknowledging it will be a close affair today:
“This is a tough one to predict. I’ll probably sit on the fence and go with a draw in this one,” he wrote for the Metro. “You’ve got to give West Ham and Nuno great credit because they were done, as we said, a month ago.
“They were down and out but they’ve clawed their way back and Summerville is having a great time scoring goals. I go back to my point that their form has probably cost two managers their jobs in terms of them panicking In Forest and in Spurs, because of what West Ham have done. Bournemouth are in really good form, so I’m going to go for a draw in this one. Prediction – Draw.”
Whilst Nuno Espirito Santo’s team face Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest take on Liverpool on Sunday. The Hammers need to close the gap with Forest, and will be hoping that Liverpool can do them a favour should they get a result this evening.
Forest to slip up?
Shearer also predicted Forest’s game, with an outcome that Iron’s fans will certainly want:
“Nottingham Forest have a change of manager and it was a huge decision which sort of came out of the blue. But I think Liverpool look as if they’ve got some sort of normality back, so I’ll go for an away win.
“I think it’ll be between Nottingham Forest and West Ham for who does take that third relegation place. You just don’t see Forest getting anything this weekend. I think they’ll make it tough but not have enough on the day.”
West Ham’s survival situation
West Ham currently sit in 18th, three points behind Nottingham Forest in 17th. After this weekend’s fixtures the Hammers will hope to have closed that gap, but regardless, face a big test against Liverpool in seven days time.
Forest have their second-leg Europa League playoff against Fenerbahce to contend with, but with a 3-0 aggregate leader, Vitor Pereira could rest some players. The Irons will be hoping that game becomes more difficult, before their relegation rivals travel to Brighton & Hove Albion next Sunday.
Premier League Table (21/2/2025)
| # | Team | PL | W | D | L | GD | P |
| 17 | NFO | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | -13 | 27 |
| 18 | WHU | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | -17 | 24 |
This weekend represents a great opportunity for Nuno’s team to close that gap and put some pressure on. Forest want to compete on both fronts in two competitions, so the West Ham need to make it as hard as possible for them.
