West Ham v Leicester: Use Betfair Build-Ups to back Bowen at 19/10 to outscore Vardy

• Bowen is 8/52.60 to notch this evening but Build Up bet offers better value

• Opposite number Vardy struggling for chances

• Our Cheltenham offer is live! Get a completely free bet every weekend until the Festival

Match Ups - Bowen to outscore Vardy

He may be 38 and in part made up of energy drinks and Skittles but it still feels sacrilegious to back against Jamie Richard Vardy.

Time and again across his remarkable career the striker has been written off, and time and again he has emphatically proven his doubters wrong.

Expected to take a peripheral role this season on Leicester's return to the top-flight, he is instead their leading goal-scorer with only Wilfred Ndidi topping him for assists.

That though is less of a feat than it first appears. Collectively taking on the fewest number of shots this term (238) and with a defence that haemorrhages goals, the Foxes have routinely failed to trouble opponents this term, winning just four matches and finding themselves rooted in the relegation mire.

This evening, Ruud Van Nistelrooy's strugglers head to the capital, having not scored in the league for five hours and conceding 10 goals since.

It is for this reason, more than any other, why it makes sense to include Vardy in a Betfair Build Up bet, backing the veteran to come second best tonight to a direct peer. Sacrilege be damned.

Bowen vs Vardy head-to-head stats

English Premier League

Jarrod Bowen

West Ham

English Premier League

Jamie Vardy

Leicester

Bowen Vardy

Appearances 34 35

---

Goals 13 9

---

Shots 87 58

---

Shots on target 37 26

---

Assists 8 4

---

Chances created 51 19

---

Passes 700 371

---

Fouls 20 26

---

Fouls won 51 23

---

Yellow cards 1 5

---

Red cards 0 0

Powered by

As the graph above illustrates, both Vardy and Jarrod Bowen are on seven goals, the latter requiring 12 more shots to reach that tally.

It is Vardy who is the more clinical of the two, no question.

Yet context is everything here, and Leicester's woeful form - that has worsened since mid-December - must be a consideration. In that period, they have notched every 247 minutes.

In their last five league outings, they have averaged a meagre 8.6 attempts on goal per 90.

It naturally follows therefore that if this evening plays out true to type, Vardy can expect to get significantly fewer opportunities than his opposite number Bowen.

This suspicion is backed up by their respective individual displays in recent weeks. Starved of chances as his side suffers at the other end, Vardy has managed to accrue a mere seven attempts on goal in his last five appearances. He has averaged a shot on target every 112.5 minutes.

By stark contrast, Bowen has accrued 12 attempts, crucially scoring from two of them.

Vardy has fired blanks all February.

There is another detail worth highlighting, that of their individual returns against the other's club.

Bowen has converted three in seven versus Leicester. Vardy has scored just four times in 16 meetings with the Hammers, a record that pales to his strike-rate against other London clubs.

Now read Jack Critchley's Championship tips for this Saturday