Improving West Ham’s survival charge to continue against Norwich
Published:Having already bounded from 19th in the table and a point off bottom to 15th since the start of the year, West Ham can take another giant leap towards safety with a home win against Norwich at 21/20.
The Hammers are now into 1/6 to retain their Premier League status, which is hardly surprising considering their impressive recent improvement and the form of teams around them.
A second top-half finish in a row at 7/1, which looked an impossible feat at the end of 2013, is now very much a reality as a set of favourable results could see Sam Allardyce’s side take 11th place with a win at Norwich.
That ought to be well within their capabilities, as the Canaries have lost each of their last three on the road and have suffered defeats in 10 of their 15 away games in all competitions this term.
Boss Chris Hughton’s struggling outfit may have deserved the point gained from their goalless draw at home to a confidence-sapped Manchester City team, but they’ve won just once in their last 10 league games and have secured fewer points on the road this season than rock-bottom Fulham.
Top-scorer Gary Hooper came off with a knock against City and is far from certain to start at Upton Park, while influential midfielder Robert Snodgrass could miss out again due to a groin strain.
The hosts will have to do without the suspended Andy Carroll’s services again, but after Kevin Nolan trebled his Premier League goal tally for the campaign with successive braces against Villa and Swansea, the Norwich defence should have enough on their plate keeping an eye on the Hammers’ skipper.
Spanish stopper Adrian has quickly become a firm fans’ favourite and the 27-year-old’s fourth Premier League shut out at Aston Villa came in just his seventh top-flight start.
A third West Ham 2-0 win a row can be backed at 10/1, while a fifth Premier League clean sheet since New Year’s day for Allardyce’s Irons is available at 8/5.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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