Premier League Soccer Odds, Prediction: Manchester United vs. West Ham

Payton Matthews
July 21, 2020

The first of two English Premier League matches Wednesday with a 1 p.m. ET start time looks to a be a major mismatch as Manchester United is a -508 favourite on the soccer odds against visiting West Ham, which is +1000. A draw is +558 and the over-under is 3.5 goals, with the under a -143 favourite.

Manchester United Odds and News

With Manchester City recently winning its appeal of a two-year ban from the Champions League, Man U now must finish in the Top 4 of the Premier League table to earn an automatic spot in next season’s Champions League. The Red Devils currently are tied for fourth with Leicester City on 62 points, one behind third-place Chelsea. United will earn a Top 4 spot if they simply don’t lose this match or at Leicester on Sunday.

Manchester United comes off a 3-1 loss Sunday to Chelsea, but it was out of league competition and a semifinal match of the FA Cup. The Red Devils had been on a 19-game unbeaten streak in all competitions and had beaten Chelsea three times this season. Man U netminder David de Gea had a match to forget on Sunday with two big mistakes, and Harry Maguire had an own goal.

Take little from that loss, though, as Manchester United looked rather disinterested and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer held out stars Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial (17 goals in EPL play) and Mason Greenwood (nine). Clearly, Solskjaer only cares about a Top 4 EPL finish. Man U also lost defender Eric Bailly to a head injury in the first half. He won’t play here. Bruno Fernandes had the lone goal, coming on a penalty shot in the 85^th minute.

Man U is -417 to score first Wednesday and -139 to score in both halves. Martial is the +101 favourite as anytime scorer.

West Ham Odds and News

West Ham sits 16^th in the 20-team EPL with the bottom three relegated. The Irons have 37 points, six up on the No. 18 club so they are all but locks to avoid relegation with just two games left. West Ham comes off a 3-1 home win over Watford last Friday on first-half goals by Michail Antonio, Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice. It was the 500^th appearance for the club for captain Mark Noble. The Hammers have won back-to-back games for the first time since August.

Antonio leads West Ham with nine goals in EPL competition and Sebastian Haller has seven. Antonio is the +310 favourite on the side to be an anytime scorer Wednesday with Haller at +400. The Irons are +285 to score first and +600 to score in both halves.

Manchester United -451
Draw +555
West Ham United +900

West Ham is looking to complete its first Premier League season sweep of Manchester United since 2006-07. On Sept. 22, the Hammers beat visiting Man U 2-0. Andriy Yarmolenko scored in the 44^th minutes and Aaron Cresswell in the 84^th. Pogba, Martial and Greenwood all missed the match.

Manuel Pellegrini was the manager for West Ham back then but has since been replaced by David Moyes, who tries to become the first former Manchester United manager to win a Premier League match at Old Trafford since Dave Sexton in March 1982 with Coventry City.