West Ham United welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to the London Stadium in an untelevised Super Sunday clash.
Victory would see West Ham climb out of the relegation zone, whereas a win could see Brighton climb as high as second in the table.
Team News
West Ham have no fresh injury concerns to report from Thursday’s win over Viborg in their UEFA Europa Conference League Play-Off as new signing, Thilo Kehrer looks to make his first Premier League start.
Craig Dawson (hamstring) and Nayef Aguerd (ankle) both remain ruled out.
Brighton again have no fresh injury concerns to report as only Jakub Moder (knee) remains absent, following their goalless draw against Newcastle last weekend.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are winless in 10 previous Premier League meetings against Brighton (D6, L4).
- Brighton are unbeaten in five previous visits to the London Stadium (W1, D4).
- West Ham’s Tomas Soucek and Brighton’s Neal Maupay have both scored in the last two meetings between their teams in East London.
- David Moyes’ Hammers are looking to avoid three consecutive league defeats for the first time since March-June 2020.
- Brighton are looking to go unbeaten in their first three opening league matches of a new season for the first time since 2016-17 season, which saw they win promotion from the Championship.
Prediction
Having lacked the finishing touch to strong attacking moves in their opening two league matches, West Ham certainly delivered a clinical win over Viborg on Thursday evening in a cagey contest so hopefully they can continue to build on that performance here.
Brighton meanwhile were dominant in their goalless draw against Newcastle last weekend with excellent pressing and quality in attack, which forced interceptions from Newcastle’s defensive mistakes but the Seagulls just lacked that perfect onside finishing touch.
This fixture however has belonged to Brighton in recent seasons and given their excellent defensive discipline and organisation this season, I definitely expect them to get something with the fresher legs but West Ham should give them another difficult fight.
Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Brighton
Result: West Ham 0-2 Brighton