Southampton are the worst team in the league, both in terms of the league table and how many goals that they have scored, they look vulnerable to a West Ham side who are unbeaten in 3 and look like they might be finding a groove at long last.

Ivan Juric has been employed to install some defensive discipline and he has a good record in the defensive stats over in the Serie A, but with few days to work on his side ahead of this one it would be a surprise if too much changes. Expect West Ham to avoid defeat here.

We can expect Southampton to be a little harder to beat here purely because they aren’t likely to take kamikaze risks at the back under the new boss. It is going to be a game or two down the line before he can be expected to work on the attacking play such is the repair job needed on the defence.

Southampton are the lowest scorers in the league while 7 of the last 9 West Ham matches have had under 3.5 goals in it. The visitors are without creativity with Lucas Paqueta suspended, and if the Saints are stingier at the back, this is unlikely to be a goal fest.

Mohammed Kudus goes into the game off the back of scoring against Brighton at the weekend and with no Paqueta, the Ghana international can be expected to play a much higher attacking role.

Against a Southampton defence without their natural shield in front of them in Flynn Downes, who is suspended, there should be space for Kudus to find an effort on goal. The attacker averages 1.3 shots on target per 90 this season and can expect to add one to his tally here at a nice price.

Although Southampton are likely to improve defensively in the coming weeks, it might be a little too soon in the Ivan Juric era for them to be completely watertight here, so we can still expect the home keeper to be required to make 4 or more saves.

Southampton keepers average 4.3 saves per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season and there is more than enough in this West Ham attack to force whoever is between the Saints’ sticks into a number of saves. West Ham recently had 31 shots at Leicester and they can test the keeper at least 4 times here.

Southampton might well improve in time but they just don’t look good enough to be competitive at this level without additions in January, so this looks like a good chance for West Ham to pick up 3 more points and build on their recent 3 game unbeaten run.

The Hammers drew at Bournemouth in their last away game and a repeat of that performance should be more than enough to see off a team who have conceded 3 or more in 5 of their last 7 home games.

Jarrod Bowen has more goal contributions than any other player for West Ham this season. In terms of goals and assists he has double any of his teammates so you would think that any West Ham win will come via one of those two methods being attributed to the England international.

Bowen will play from the right side where Ryan Manning isn’t the strongest direct opponent so Bowen, who can go both ways and can run away from the opposing full-back is hugely likely to contribute in any goals West Ham score.

Only Wolves and Man United have conceded more goals from set plays than Southampton this season and with Tomas Soucek being a huge threat in the air, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he fires an effort on target.

He gets to play further forward in the West Ham formation these days so a shot on target from open play isn’t beyond him either. Southampton look an ideal opponent for the Czech to hit the target against at a generous price of 1.91.

The Level 2 Bet Builder concludes with one of the most fouled players in the Premier League being fouled 3 more times. Tyler Dibling has plenty of skill and likes to carry the ball to the defender and take them on but he has that burst of pace that can expose the defender and result in him being fouled.

He is averaging being fouled 3.05 times per match this season and with West Ham 5th in the league for fouls per match, the chances of the Saints starlet earning his team 3 more fouls here looks high.