West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion Preview

After both recording huge wins at Christmas West Ham and Brighton will look to begin 2024 with wins when they face each other in London on Tuesday.

The Hammers bounced back from a disappointing 5-1 loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup to take maximum points home against Arsenal. Despite seeing about a quarter of the ball in the game and facing countless shots, David Moyes’ side put up a solid defencive performance to go home with a 2-0 win against the Gunners.

That win extended their Premier League winning run to three games, each of which came by multi-goal margins and without reply. Kicking off 2024 in a similar vein will be the aim for the Hammers, who have lost just one of their last seven home league outings (W4, D2, L1).

However, Brighton could throw a spanner in the Hammers’ works as West Ham have won just one of the last 13 H2Hs against the Seagulls (W1, D6, L6). Roberto De Zerbi’s side come into this game in a confident mood after obliterating Tottenham in their last game.

The Seagulls took a 4-0 lead against Ange Postecoglou’s side before conceding twice in the latter stages to keep their frustrating record of not keeping a clean sheet going for the 23rd straight league game. The Brighton manager did not allow the goals conceded to affect his mood though as he was all smiles when stating that he’s “really lucky to be the coach of this team with these players.”

He has every reason to be happy for his young side fueled by the hunger and desire of young players like 18-year-old Jack Hinshelwood, who scored Brighton’s 19th PL goal of 2023 by teenage players. So, Brighton currently have more goals by teenagers than every other team in the league combined. Therefore another spritely performance by this young side would be the ideal way to kick off 2024.

However, Brighton must improve on a rather rotten away record of just one win across their last seven PL travels (W1, D2, L4), to close the three-point gap between them and their hosts. It will take a solid defencive performance and perhaps a rare clean sheet to achieve that, as the visitors have conceded 2.4 goals per match on average across their last seven league trips.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table