Manuel Pellegrini (centre) has overseen an upturn in form recently (photo credit: West Ham United).
Brighton look to end winless run against in-form West Ham
By Jimmy Whitehead
It’s the return of Friday night football this week with 15th placed Brighton and Hove Albion taking on 14th placed West Ham at the Amex stadium. The teams come into the game with contrasting form. Brighton haven’t won in their last six games in all competitions whereas West Ham have lost one in the same amount of matches.
The key to stopping West Ham is to keep striker Marko Arnautovic quiet. The Austrian striker has scored four goals in six appearances for the Hammers so far this season. Brighton defenders will need to be strong against him. If you let him bully you, then it will be a long 90 mins.
The Seagulls are a tough nut to crack and credit must go to Chris Hughton for that. The organisational skills of the team frustrates the opposition. Although they haven’t won in the last six that hasn’t stopped the team from creating chances, scoring five times in the six games. With the Hammers losing key defender Winston Reid the team susceptible to conceding goals.
Team News
For the home team there is only one injury concern: midfield playmaker Pascal Gross. The German has been missing for five weeks thus far and could be the reason why the Seagulls’ form has dipped. Dale Stephens is training with the team again, but no news as of yet on his availability for the match.
West Ham have a few injuries to deal with but have the depth in the squad to cover them. Andy Carroll, Winston Reid, Manuel Lanzini and Jack Willshere are all out long term with the likes of Pedro Obiang, Marc Noble and Andriy Yarmolenko have stepping up in their absence and helped the London outfit collect seven points from a possible 12 on offer in September.
Outcome
Manuel Pellegrini’s men want to capitalise on the convincing win against Manchester United. The London team had a slow start under the former Manchester City boss, losing their first four games. Since then, the squad has started to gel and the results have dramatically improved.
Brighton are desperate for a win as they didn’t taste victory throughout the whole of September. The Seagulls beat the Hammers home and away last season, scoring six goals in the process, perhaps providing a good omen for their clash on Friday.
This has the potential to be high scoring as the both teams haven’t been goal-shy. Brighton have scored nine times in their last ten appearances at home. If they want to stay in the premier league, then they will need to make the Amex stadium a fortress. West Ham have only kept one clean sheet in the last four league games although the results have been in the Hammers favour, if they don’t plug the leak then they could be on the losing side.
Although Albion are at home for the game its hard to say they will win. With West Hams good form over the last few weeks they look to be in the driving seat for the game. If they played like they did last week against Manchester United, then the Seagulls will struggle to keep up with them.
