Our prediction for this Premier League match:
City Ground will host Sunday’s Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and West Ham United, who have not met in the English top flight since February 1999. Back then the Hammers defeated the Reds 2-1, and they are once again seen as favourites to win the match. First-choice goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski picked up a knock in a 2-0 loss to Manchester City, but he should recover in time to face Forest, while both Aguerd and Ogbonna remain in the treatment room.
The newcomers, on the other hand, aim to make amends for a 2-0 loss to Newcastle United. Both Omar Richards and Ryan Yates are injured for the home side, and given West Ham’s attacking potential, we believe that punters from all four corners of the world can find value in betting on the capital club.
Highlighted Player (Jack Colback):
After spending nine years at Sunderland youth academy, Jack Colback signed a loan deal with Ipswich Town on 6 August, 2009. The left-footed midfielder, who is capable of playing at left back as well, made 37 appearances for the Championship side, scoring four goals in the English second tier.
Against all odds, Colback decided to sign for Sunderland’s bitterest rivals Newcastle United on 9 June, 2014 and it has to be noted he became the first player to move directly from Sunderland to Newcastle since 1998 when Lionel Perez did the same. In 2015 Sunderland fans created a sick banner depicting Colback hanging with a noose around his neck and that caused uproar on social media.
Colback and his teammates from Newcastle dropped to the Championship at the end of the 2015/2016 season, but he decided not to leave the club. Colback scored 5 goals in 64 appearances for Newcastle United in the Premier League. He is well known for his passing skills, he rarely gives the ball away and journalist often compare him with Italy ace Andrea Pirlo.
Highlighted Team (West Ham):
West Ham United are an English football club based in East London. The club was founded in 1895 and it has to be noted that the club’s name was Thames Ironworks back then. The Hammers were playing their home games at Upton Park from 1904 until 2016, when they moved to the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
West Ham have won three FA Cup trophies (1964, 1975 and 1980) and they were runners-up in 1923 and 2006. The capital club finished the 1985/1986 England first division campaign in third place in the standings and that is the club’s highest placing in the top flight. West Ham United have strong rivalries with fellow London clubs, but Tottenham Hotspur are considered the club’s main rivals.
A number of top-class players were part of West Ham in the past and the likes of Joe Cole, Carlos Tevez, Paolo Di Canio, Paul Ince, Julian Dicks, Shaka Hislop, Michael Carrick and Slaven Bilic are some of them.