West Ham seek to boost their Premier League survival chances in a tricky clash against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Victory could move West Ham to within two points of safety if Nottingham Forest lose elsewhere, whilst Brighton can go eighth with a win if results elsewhere go in their favour.
Team News
West Ham have no fresh injury concerns after their 1-0 home loss against Fulham.
Niclas Fullkrug (personal), El Hadji Malick Diouf, Aaron Wan-Bissaka (both international duty) and Lukasz Fabianski (back) remain absent.
Brighton have no fresh injury concerns following their 2-1 defeat at Arsenal, as Kaoru Mitoma returns after illness kept him out of the trip to North London.
Carlos Baleba (international duty), Stefanos Tzimas (ACL), Solly March and Adam Webster (both knee) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
West Ham host Brighton at London Stadium on Tuesday 30 December at 7:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports Golf in the UK.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have avoided defeat in four of their last five meetings against Brighton (W1, D3, L1).
- Brighton are yet to suffer a Premier League defeat against West Ham at the London Stadium (W2, D6).
- Two of West Ham’s last three meetings against Brighton ended in 1-1 draws, whilst they lost the other by a 3-2 result in April.
- West Ham have won just two of their nine league matches at home so far this season (W2, L7).
- Brighton have claimed four points in three league visits to London-based opposition this season (W1, D1, L1).
Prediction
Luck just doesn’t seem to fancy West Ham at home this season because they yet again produced another wasteful display against Fulham despite their energetic attacking play, so it is hard to see how much else they can do other than find more polished composure in their end product.
Brighton meanwhile certainly were outplayed at Arsenal for much of the opening hour and left themselves just too much to do once got on top, but they will be pleased with the second-half effort which should give them confidence coming to the London Stadium where they’re yet to taste defeat.
This fixture in East London though does often have the habit of finishing in draws but if Brighton can bring more composure and build on their second-half performance at Arsenal, I fancy them to snatch this as West Ham need a huge performance where everything clicks if are to win.
Prediction: West Ham 1-2 Brighton
Result: West Ham 2-2 Brighton
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