
Brighton v West Ham
West Ham will be looking to spoil Brighton & Hove Albion’s perfect start to the new Premier League season when they visit the Seagulls at the American Express Community Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Irons will be trying to seek revenge after being thrashed 4-0 defeat on the South Coast back in March.
We were in a difficult place the last time we played them five months ago, with (the then ashen faced) David Moyes clinging onto his job as his side battled to avoid relegation.
However, the Hammers finally got their act together and managed to climb above the dreaded dotted line before winning the Europa Conference League – their first major European trophy for 58 years
Despite the loss of last season’s captain Declan Rice, West Ham have picked up four points from their first two league matches, with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth followed by a hard-fought 3-1 victory with 10 men at home against big-spending London rivals Chelsea last weekend.
It was good to see our new summer signing James Ward-Prowse chipping in with two assists on his debut, setting up Nayef Aguerd and Michail Antonio either side of a Carney Chukwuemeka equaliser, and although Aguerd was given his marching orders with a needless second yellow card with over 20 minutes remaining, Lucas Paqueta secured all three points for the hosts with a penalty kick deep into second-half stoppage time.
The Irons go into Saturday’s match having failed to win any of their previous 12 Premier League meetings with our version of Kryptonite –our longest unbeaten run against any team in the division.
The last time the Hammers came out on top against the Seagulls was way back in April 2012 when we hammered them 6-0 in the Championship.
On the injury front, our new man Konstantinos Mavropanos, who joined from Stuttgart on Tuesday, is nursing a minor niggle and will not make his debut on Saturday, but Thilo Kehrer is available for selection after recovering from a “back problem” that forced him to miss the win over Chelsea.
We will also be without the suspended Nayef Aguerd, though, so either Kehrer or Angelo Ogbonna are expected to start in central defence alongside Kurt Zouma.
Another new boy, Edson Alvarez could also fill in at centre-back and will be pushing for his first Hammers start after coming on as a second-half substitute against Chelsea, while fellow summer signing Ward-Prowse is set to continue in midfield after making his full debut last weekend.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Kehrer, Emerson; Soucek, Ward-Prowse; Bowen, Paqueta, Benrahma; Antonio