West Ham welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to London Stadium in a huge midweek clash in the race for Europe.
Victory would see West Ham remain fourth in the table, whereas Brighton can go sixth with a win for 24 hours if Wolves lose elsewhere.
Team News
Aaron Cresswell is a doubt for West Ham after suffering a back injury following a collision with a goal post during Sunday’s away defeat to Manchester City.
Manager, David Moyes meanwhile could consider rotating his squad in this match ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash against Chelsea, with Andriy Yarmolenko, Nikola Vlasic and Issa Diop amongst those looking to start.
Angelo Ogbonna remains ruled out with a knee injury.
Brighton have no fresh injury concerns to report as Steven Alzate (ankle) and Danny Welbeck (hamstring) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are yet to beat Brighton in the Premier League after eight previous meetings (D5, L3).
- Brighton are unbeaten in four trips to London Stadium (W1, D3).
- Each of the last five meetings in this fixture have ended in score draws (D5), of which two fixtures each finished 2-2 and 1-1 apiece, alongside a 3-3 draw in February 2020.
- West Ham have scored first in just one of their last four home matches against Brighton – courtesy of Issa Diop in a 3-3 draw in February 2020.
- Four of Brighton’s ten league goals away at West Ham have been scored by strikers (three – Glenn Murray & 1 – Neal Maupay).
Prediction
West Ham have certainly let their league form slip in their last two domestic matches because they lacked the finishing touch across both away losses at Wolves and Man City respectively, so I expect them to be relieved to be back at home here because they need to rediscover their spark quickly.
David Moyes’ Hammers though are used to the constant hectic flow of matches now and squad rotation wouldn’t be a surprise, which could be to their benefit with one eye on a crunch clash against Chelsea on Saturday.
Having seen their final touch again go AWOL around another international break, Brighton will be relishing this clash given their form in this fixture especially after dominating Leeds on Saturday with fantastic movement despite lacking any end product to numerous chances.
Brighton though are in great form against West Ham so this could be the unexpected cracker of the round because I can see both teams going for it here, although I am punting on a first home win for the Hammers over Brighton if they can rediscover their quality and score first.
Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Brighton
Result: West Ham 1-1 Brighton