Nottingham Forrest earned their way into the Premier League this year and opened up on the road with a 2-0 loss at Newcastle United will face the Hammers who opened at home against Man City and were shut 2-0 as well. These teams have no recent history against each other, having not faced the other since January 2014. West Ham have won 10 of their last 14 Premier League games against promoted sides (D2 L2), with both of their defeats in this run coming against Brentford last season. Both teams will need to shoot more and get more shots on goal, Nottingham Forest (5) and West Ham United (6) had the fewest shots of any side in the opening round of Premier League matches this season, with West Ham managing the only shot on target between the two sides.
While it may be difficult for West Ham to duplicate last years 7th place and even then had every opportunity to finish better as they won just one of their last 8 Premier League games (D2 L5). That being said they are playing a team who was in England Championship last year and worked their way up and is likely to finish in the bottom third of the league. Nottingham Forest faced more shots (23) and shots on target (10) than any other side so that may be a place where the Hammers can get things going.
The team totals for West Ham -500 over .5 and -108 over 1.5. After being held down tight in their opener I look for the Hammers to get at least 2 goals on the board here. As far as the side play the Hammers are -115. My picks are West Ham over 1.5 and money line -115, I guess you can be the judge of which is the better play as of course over 1.5 would still cash in a 2-2 draw but not in a 1-0 win which are of course realistic possibilities and sometimes we can out think ourselves, but I think this one go to The Academy of Football.