- West Ham United U21 beat Blackburn Rovers U21 2-1 at home in the 2024/2025 Premier League 2 season.
- Blackburn Rovers U21 have won two of their seven home Premier League 2 fixtures this season, while West Ham United U21 have won twice from eight.
Hammers are favourites for the win
West Ham United U21 are favourites to win Friday’s Premier League 2 clash with Blackburn Rovers U21 at 1/2, with Blackburn priced at 69/20 and a draw available at 71/20.
The Londoners are the team in superior form, with just two wins, a draw and two defeats from their last five matches, and are in 9th place in the 2025-2026 Premier League 2 table with 27 points from 18 games.
Blackburn Rovers U21 are 28th and have managed just 11 points from 16 matches, after losing four in a row and picking up just one win from their last five.
Blackburn are compact and hard to beat
Mike Sheron’s men, who have had a difficult time of things this term, have been set up in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation with a focus on maintaining defensive shape, pressing the opposition where they can and hitting opponents on the break.
The Rovers players have had to be organised and compact, getting out wide with the full-backs, and running off the #10, who has to play an active role.
Hammers have been high on possession and tempo
Zavon Hines’ side have opted for a possession-based approach with flexible shapes that can overload the wide areas, press the opposition proactively and move the ball at tempo down the flanks.
West Ham United U21 will need to dictate the pace of this game against an opponent who is better at catching them on the counter-attack, and in doing so, they are sure to get caught out a few times.
West Ham will attack and Rovers will counter
Blackburn Rovers U21 have scored 10 goals in seven home matches, but West Ham United U21 have been much more prolific on the road, scoring 16 times in eight away games at an average of 2.00 per match.
The ‘Both teams to score - Yes’ market is available at 21/50, which is an enormous odds-on price given the likelihood of attacking football at both ends of the field.
And while there is some argument to back West Ham United U21 for the three points, we’ll take that at the straight odds, while backing both teams to get on the scoresheet in what should be a fascinating fixture.
