League One promotion contenders Bristol City will face their toughest test of the season so far when they welcome Premier League opposition to Ashton Gate in the shape of Sam Allardyce’s West Ham on Sunday.

Bristol City face West Ham

Both sides share similar qualities as they’re both attacking, free scoring outfits that are susceptible to conceding goals through their open style of play. These factors should mean we are very likely to see an abundance of goals, all the best ingredients for an entertaining FA Cup tie!

The Hammers come into the fixture with an impressive scoring record on their travels, having netted in 10 of their 11 away games. The blue and claret faithful will be delighted by the recent goalscoring efforts of Andy Carroll and Enner Valencia, who in the absence of their talismatic forward Diafra Sakho have bagged the goals to steer the London based side into 7th spot in the Premier League and provide a realistic chance at securing a Europa League berth.

Allardyce’s side, however, aren’t exactly operating the tightest operation at the other end of the pitch, having conceded at least once in all of their 11 away fixtures this season. This should pave the way for plenty of opportunities for Bristol City and in particular Matt Smith. The Fulham loanee has 9 goals from 9 starts so far in his spell with the Gloucestershire club and is backed up with a plethora of goalscoring threats including Aaron Wilbraham (13 goals), Kieran Agard (8 goals) and the in-form Jay Emmanuel Thomas who has scored 4 from his last 3 appearances.

Considering the season Bristol are having in comparison to their relegation battle of last year they will be extremely hungry for a result here as an added bonus to their successful run thus far in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. They’ve scored in 14 of their 16 games at home this season and certainly possess the firepower to do some damage on Sunday.

I’m backing The Robins to find the back of the net at least once and particularly like the price of 11/10 offered by Bet365 for both teams to score and over 2.5 goals.

TIP – 5 PT STAKE: OVER 2.5 GOALS & BTTS @ 11/10 (Bet365)