Bournemouth vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Vitality StadiumAttendance10,596.
Tuesday 26 December 2017 13:58, UK
Bournemouth and West Ham will both look to return to winning ways when they meet on Boxing Day at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries were the latest team to succumb to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, losing 4-0 at the Etihad on Saturday - which proved to be their third defeat in a row.
West Ham meanwhile fell to a 3-2 defeat at home to Newcastle, halting their progress under David Moyes after taking seven points from their previous three games.
It leaves West Ham sitting precariously in 17th in the Premier League table, just one place and one point above Bournemouth, who have slipped into the relegation zone after no wins in seven league matches.
Junior Stanislas has joined Bournemouth's growing injury list after limping out of the 4-0 defeat to Manchester City with a sore hamstring.
Cherries boss Eddie Howe is hoping for good news from the treatment room, with Jermain Defoe (ankle), Harry Arter (calf), Charlie Daniels (groin), Joshua King (hamstring), Brad Smith (hip), Adam Federici and Tyrone Mings (both back) all struggling.
Manuel Lanzini is back in the West Ham squad for the trip to the south coast. The Argentine midfielder has completed a two-match ban after he was retrospectively charged for diving at Stoke last weekend.
Skipper Mark Noble could miss out again with a tight hamstring and defender Jose Fonte remains sidelined due to an ankle injury.
A Bournemouth player has scored a hat-trick in both of their Premier League victories against West Ham United (Callum Wilson in August 2015 and Josh King in March 2017).
The away side won both fixtures between these sides in the 2015-16 campaign, while the home side were victors in both matches last season.
The Cherries have failed to score in either of their Premier League Boxing Day games, drawing 0-0 against Crystal Palace in 2015, before losing 0-3 at Chelsea last season.
West Ham won their first away league game of the season in their last outing against Stoke (3-0) - they've not won consecutive Premier League games away from home since February.
It is six games without a win now for Bournemouth, and Newcastle go to West Ham and win, and yet they had kept clean sheets against three top teams. They have played Chelsea, Arsenal and Stoke, who scored three goals on Saturday, and kept clean sheets. And then they go and let in three goals against Newcastle, who cannot win for toffee, and that was a poor result for West Ham. So it is so hard to predict. This is a big game for Bournemouth. I think they are in major, major trouble because I did not think they would go down. I thought they would have too much.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (9/1 with Sky Bet)
