West Ham United vs. Brighton and Hove Albion – EPL, December 27, 2020

Graham Potter will be hoping that West Ham will still be feeling the effects of Christmas as he takes his Brighton side to east London on Sunday.

The Seagulls have not won a game since November and are only just staying out of the bottom three. More points are needed on the south coast. 

West Ham may have been comprehensively beaten by Chelsea on Monday, but I am a little surprised that BetOnline gives Brighton so much of a chance of winning this game. David Moyes’ side has really improved since the early weeks of the season – and the odds for the home win look like good value here.

West Ham started very sluggishly against Chelsea – and that set the tone for the entire game, even though the Hammers did pick up later on. The early goal knocked the stuffing out of David Moyes’ side, but the two late goals probably made the final scoreline a little flattering for Chelsea.

But West Ham had picked up some really good results in the month or two before that game, winning four of the six previous games. That suggests that the new players fit in nicely to the squad and that Moyes is getting the best out of his team, even without the goals of Michail Antonio.

He could well miss this game on Sunday, but Moyes may elect to go for the exciting, Said Benrahma after dropping him for the Chelsea game. If that is the case, then Brighton will hope that Tariq Lamptey’s hamstring injury doesn’t keep him out of the squad, as he will be desperately needed at the back.

Lamptey’s forward runs have also been a focal point of Brighton’s best-attacking moves this season, so he is fast becoming vital to his team. Brighton scored late on against Sheffield United to take a share of the points at the weekend and will be hoping for a few more wins over the next few weeks to be able to pull away from the bottom of the league.

I think these odds for a West Ham win look pretty good, considering Brighton has only won twice this season and tends to concede goals on a regular basis as well. The home side has a selection of talented attacking midfielders that should be able to deputize if Antonio does miss out here – and I think it will be the Hammers that will be the happiest at the end of 90 minutes.