Brighton and Hove Albion Match Preview

West Ham United were just minutes away from a 2-1 victory to complete a late comeback whilst also recording consecutive triumphs over Brighton and Hove Albion at The American Express Stadium last season but ended up losing 3-2.

After bouncing back from the home defeat to Liverpool last weekend by holding Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Thursday night, their week concludes with a trip to face Fabian Hürzeler’s Seagulls this afternoon.

Nuno Espírito Santo may have started to turn his current teams’ home record around with wins over both Newcastle United and Burnley in early November but he is still to get maximum points on the road. Can he achieve that feat here?

Exactly fifteen days after a 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth, the Hammers are back on the South Coast where they will be hoping to go one better than they did at The Vitality Stadium.

When Espírito Santo was in charge at Nottingham Forest last season, he steered the Tricky Trees to a comfortable 7-0 home win. The travelling support will be hoping he can conjure up some of that magic here.

The point against Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils three days ago should mean that they are full of confidence ahead of this encounter and ready to inflict another defeat on today’s hosts, as Hürzeler’s side couldn’t build on last weekend’s 2-0 away success over Nottingham Forest and lost their midweek match here when they narrowly went down 4-3 against Aston Villa.

There is no doubt that the extra day’s preparation would have helped the home side ahead of this game but they will be aware that the Irons haven’t lost on their travels since the 2-1 defeat at newly-promoted Leeds United back on 24 October.

Both of West Ham’s meetings with the Seagulls have been scheduled for this month, meaning they will meet again in just twenty three days time.

In his pre-match news conference after Thursday night’s clash, Espírito Santo revealed that winger Crysencio Summerville is close to a return but may not be involved in Sussex. Lucas Paquetá has served his latest one-match suspension so it will be interesting to see whether the Irons’ Head-Coach immediately restores the Brazilian back to the starting line-up or sticks with Tomáš Souček in midfield. Igor Julio may not have had too much gametime while on loan with the Irons so far and he is ineligible to play against his parent club here. Given the amount of games this week, the Portuguese made decide to give Max Kilman a start.

A number of the club’s Development Squad players were on the bench for the first of these back-to-back away fixtures and the Hammers’ Head-Coach will have to decide which ones will remain in the matchday squad.

Kick-off is at 2pm and live coverage will be screened by Sky Sports from 1pm. The referee is Simon Hooper.