Premier League: Hammer Blow On The Way For Brighton?

West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Graham Potter’s Brighton will head up to London on Wednesday to take on David Moyes’ West Ham, as both teams hope to get back to winning ways.

West Ham come into the game on the back of a defeat to Manchester City while Brighton drew at home to Leeds United, results which leave them at fourth and ninth in the table respectively. Both clubs have been upwardly mobile in recent seasons, the Hammers qualifying for Europe while the Seagulls are shaking off their tag as relegation candidates; and Premier League: West Ham vs Brighton gives them both a chance to consolidate their positions.

But there will be no East End party welcome for their visitors as Moyes’ boys put Brighton to the sword, and I suspect they might well draw some blood and take all three points.

Talking Points

Hammers happy to be home

West Ham are back on home soil at last, for the first time since they famously beat Liverpool at the London Stadium early in November. Since then they have suffered back-to-back league defeats away to Wolves and Manchester City, while picking up a Europa League victory over Rapid Vienna.

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Against Manchester City they fought gamely but Moyes will be unhappy that his team has been cut five points adrift of the top three. He’ll be hoping for his star striker Michail Antonio to get back on the scoring trail; he has six already this season but has not hit the net since he scored the Hammers’ winner in a clash with Spurs on 24^th October. The boss might be tempted to give a starting berth, alongside Antonio, to Manuel Lanzini after he scored a stunning consolation at the Etihad on Sunday. Lanzini might take the place of Said Benrahma who has been a little out of sorts recently.

Midfield man Jarred Bowen is also likely to make the starting 11 in place Arthur Masuaku, while Pablo Fornals will expect to keep his shirt.

Brighton boo-boys won’t upset Potter

A 0-0 draw at home to Leeds United may not be the result Brighton fans hoped for, or even expected, but when a number of their fans booed at the final whistle the rest of the football world raised an eyebrow. The point left the Seagulls in a highly respectable eighth position, though Manchester United’s draw at Chelsea nudged them down to ninth.

Head coach Potter was bewildered too, saying: “They’re entitled to their opinion. I disagree with them. Completely. You have to understand the game, you have to understand who we’re playing against, how we played, what we did. I think we’re sitting eighth in the Premier League, but maybe I need a bit of a history lesson at this football club.”

And of course, he has a point.

Brighton & Hove Albion aim to start winning in the Premier League as they clash against West Ham United — Graham Potter during Brighton & Hove Albion’s match against Leeds United

Any Brighton fan over the age of ten should know that the club has spent the majority of its 120-year history in the lower divisions, briefly appearing in the top flight in the early 1980s. Indeed, just before the takeover by betting and property magnate Tony Bloom in 2009, they were in the fourth tier and very close to extinction.

But Potter must work in the present and the Premier League can be unforgiving. The Seagulls are without a league win in eight, and though they have drawn six of those they have only netted five times. Brighton have some fine creative players but they have been wasteful in front of goal. Top scorer Neal Maupay has four but he missed a sitter against Leeds as did Jakub Moder. The boss might shuffle his pack and there could be recalls for Solly March, who came on as a sub against Leeds and hit the bar, and Alexis MacAllister, while he may rest Tariq Lamptey who is nursing a hamstring injury.

History

The head-to-head West Ham vs Brighton results have been well contested and the Seagulls have a slight edge, winning four of the last 13 encounters to West Ham’s three, and there have been seven draws.

While the Seagulls are on a long winless streak, the Hammers are having no such difficulties and have won the last four at the London Stadium. But their last three meetings at home to Brighton have all ended in high-scoring draws. In fact, none of the last five West Ham vs Brighton games have produced a winner.

But the West Ham vs Brighton betting odds say we’ll have a victor on Wednesday night in East London.

Betting Tip

	West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion	1X2 West Ham United @ 1.95
	December 2, 03:30 (GMT+8)

You can make a case for the Seagulls to win at SBOTOP odds of 3.68 and certainly the draw at 3.30, but I’m backing the Hammers to get back to winning ways.

They are on home ground again and with a passionate crowd to roar them on, I think they’ll have too much for the stuttering Seagulls. Potter’s team is struggling to find the net and so, for alternative ideas, I can see value in Under 2.50 goals at 1.83 or a 1-0 win at 5.99.