Brighton & Hove Albion welcome West Ham to the AMEX Stadium in Saturday Night Football.
Victory will lift Brighton up to 14th should Newcastle, Burnley and Southampton all fail to win earlier this weekend.
West Ham meanwhile can leapfrog Liverpool with a win and return to fifth until Sunday evening at minimum, with Jurgen Klopp’s Reds not in action until Sunday teatime.
Team News
Lewis Dunk (pictured) and Neal Maupay are both suspended for Brighton after being sent off in Sunday’s 2-1 loss at Wolves.
Davy Propper (ankle), Joel Veltman and Adam Lallana (both calf) are doubts, whilst Florian Andone, Tariq Lamptey (both hamstring) and Solly March (knee) remain absent.
West Ham could welcome Aaron Cresswell back after the full-back suffered a dead leg in last Sunday’s defeat to Everton.
Arthur Masuaku and Declan Rice (both knee), Manuel Lanzini (groin) and Mark Noble (calf) won’t be risked until they’re fully match fit.
Stat Attack
- Brighton are yet to lose to West Ham in Premier League (W3, D4).
- West Ham have won just one of their last five visits to the AMEX Stadium (W1, D2, L2).
- Graham Potters’ Seagulls has kept clean sheets in three of their last five matches (W1, D2, L2).
- Coming into this matchweek, no player has won more aerial duels in the Premier League this season than West Ham’s Tomas Soucek with 210 aerial duel winners.
- Andre Marriner is refereeing a Brighton match for the first time this season, and this is his first trip to AMEX since June 2020 when Brighton lost to Man Utd.
Prediction
Brighton come into this game off the back of a defensive second half implosion at Wolves because they delivered a strong first half display particularly at set pieces, yet lacked end product to several chances which cost them as they lost their discipline.
West Ham meanwhile should feel hard done by with their loss to Everton because they played well throughout, although weak pressure on Everton’s defence proved costly with their conceded goal coming from a long through ball out of defence.
David Moyes’ Hammers therefore really must win their last three games if want a shot at a top four finish, yet Brighton have been quite their bogey team in recent seasons and are now safe so can play without pressure here.
I therefore think that we could see an open-ended game but the absence of Dunk and Maupay could well be Brighton’s undoing, if West Ham can apply the pressure and take their chances.
Prediction: Brighton 1-2 West Ham
Result: Brighton 1-1 West Ham
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