West Ham host Norwich, the rock bottom team in the English Premier League, in this early Thursday morning Beijing time battle. Not the most high-quality match entertainment-wise is expected but betting-wise there is a lot of interest in this match. Covid-19, the Omicron variant more specifically, has caused a large number of matches being postponed and this risk exists here too but the match will probably be played. Let's take a closer look..

Indeed, Norwich are the worst team in this league - have been for the whole season and they were also the worst team in my pre-season analysis, similarly to many other football experts' view.. However, they have been even worse than I would have expected and I believe the betting market still fails to realize just how incompetent a team they are for this level - the best football league in the world! Norwich did have a slightly better phase some 6-8 weeks ago even grabbing two wins but lately they have been in decline and their football has been extremely bad. They have lost five matches in a row in this league and failed to score any goals in this clashes! In their most recent league match they got completely trashed by Crystal Palace 3-0 and created only 0.45 in expected goals whereas C. Palace created almost 3 in goal expectancy. Crystal Palace are not even a particularly good team.. Before this they were humiliated 0-5 at home by Arsenal and created 0.14 in expected goals! This means they barely had any chance of scoring! Arsenal are a top5 team but still the statistics tell a lot about Norwich..

Finnish Teemu Pukki is a good striker but has had very few chances lately - mainly because Norwich's midfielders can not provide him with quality passes often enough. Norwich defense has been not good, but let's say decent in some matches but West Ham are a good team and it is hard to see them failing to break the visitors' defense here. I expect at least two goals for them.. Injuries and absences have had their role in Norwich's bad performances lately but almost all teams have these as the schedule is rough and Covid-19 epidemic has been getting worse. Norwich did win their latest match in FA Cup versus Charlton 1-0 away from home but let's remember Charlton play in the third highest tier, League One.. The match was very balanced despite the visitors being clear favorites in the betting market.. Not a good performance! 

West Ham have exceeded my expectations this season and are currently in 5th place, only one point behind Arsenal.  I do not expect them to be able to keep that position but top7 looks probable.. They have now won three matches in a row and dominated Leeds in their most recent match winning 2-0. Norwich have once again problems with their squad here and are expected to be without Billy Gilmour due to an ankle injury in this difficult match. Lukas Rupp, Mathias Normann, Christoph Zimmermann and Andrew Omobamidele are also injured. Important player Todd Cantwell is ill. Teemu Pukki should return and is probably the visitors' only hope to score here..

To sum up, hosts are massive favorites here!