West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion Prediction: Seagulls to spring back to life

The pressure really ramped up on West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui following back-to-back defeats against Arsenal (2-5) and Leicester City (3-1) but the Spaniard has since led his side to a 2-1 win over Wolves and a 1-1 draw with Premier League high-fliers AFC Bournemouth to quell talk of the sack - for now, at least.

Brighton & Hove Albion, on the other hand, started the season brilliantly under their own new boss Fabian Hurzeler, but four games without a win have seen the Seagulls sink to ninth and questions are being asked of the German and his team. This all, then, sets us up for a fascinating contest at the London Stadium on Saturday (15:00), and to build up to the action, you can check out my West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion prediction below.

Team News

Michail Antonio is continuing his recovery from the horrific road accident he was involved in earlier this month so he remains unavailable for selection for the foreseeable, while Paris Saint-Germain loanee Carlos Soler picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign in Monday's draw with the Cherries and will have to be replaced in the starting XI on Saturday as he serves a one-game ban.

Lopetegui could restore Crysencio Summerville to the starting XI and move Lucas Paqueta centrally, with Mohammed Kudus potentially swapping to the right-hand side of West Ham's midfield and Summerville lining up on the left.

Another option available to the Irons boss is to hand a first Premier League start to German centre-forward Niclas Fullkrug, who scored a consolation in a 3-1 defeat at Leicester City earlier this month. A start for Fullkrug would see skipper Jarrod Bowen move back to a more natural right-wing role.

Football Odds

Brighton boss Hurzeler has offered a downcast update on six-goal top scorer Danny Welbeck, who has missed two of Brighton's last three games, suggesting he has no chance of featuring this weekend.

James Milner, Jack Hinshelwood, Solly March and Ferdi Kadioglu could all miss out again, too, but in more positive news, Joel Veltman is back in training and in contention to play on Saturday. The Dutchman could come in from the start at right-back where Tariq Lamptey struggled last Sunday, so much so that he was taken off at half-time.

Igor, Mats Wieffer, Brajan Gruda, Simon Adingra and Evan Ferguson are among those pushing for starts amid the side's recent bad form.

West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion Odds

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West Ham are 9/5 to claim all three points on Saturday, giving the Irons an implied win probability of 35.7%, while Brighton are 7/5, or a 41.7% chance, to return to winning ways.

The draw is priced at 11/4, both teams to score at 4/9, and over 3.5 total goals at 5/4.

Match Result & Both Teams to Score - Brighton & Hove Albion & Yes @ 13/5

Brighton are without a win in four games despite a favourable run of fixtures against Southampton, Fulham, Leicester and Palace. They drew with both newly-promoted sides, Southampton (1-1) and Leicester (2-2), and lost to more established Premier League clubs Fulham (3-1) and Palace (1-3).

West Ham, meanwhile, won 'El Sackico' against Wolves (2-1) before battling to a point against Bournemouth, where they thought Paqueta's 87th-minute penalty had secured them victory until Cherries substitute Enes Unal stunned the Hammers with a thumping long-range free-kick.

The east Londoners have lost just one of their last five games at the London Stadium and that was to last season's runners-up Arsenal (2-5) on November 30, while they've won three of the other four.

Despite this, Brighton have been installed as favourites to win on Saturday, and I agreed with the traders. The Seagulls have been poor, granted, but they showed enough in the first few months of the season to convince me that this slump in form is just that and not a regression to the mean.

The return of Veltman should act as a big boost and I'm not convinced at all by West Ham under Lopetegui, despite showing some grit in recent weeks. They're not providing Bowen and Kudus with enough support while Paqueta has been sub-par the entire campaign and could consider himself fortunate not to have been hooked before opening the scoring from 12 yards on Monday.

Lopetegui instead elected to take off Kudus on the South Coast and that, for me, was a worrying sign as the Ghanaian was one of few outlets for them in that game and deserved better.

Brighton are yet to lose in seven trips to the London Stadium since earning promotion to the Premier League in 2017, winning twice and playing out five draws. It was even last season with neither side managing to get on the scoresheet in a goalless draw on January 2, but I'm backing a very different result and scoreline this time around.

As well as backing Brighton to win, I'm tipping both teams to score, which has landed in 81 per cent (13) of their 16 Premier League games, four of which they have won. West Ham are below the Seagulls in the BTTS table but it's still a common occurrence for the Irons as 69 per cent (11) of their top-flight contests have finished with at least one goal on either side and they've scored in five of their seven defeats.

Player to Receive a Card - Carlos Baleba (BHA) @ 11/5

Brighton's Carlos Baleba has earned rave reviews for his performances this season, sparking talk that he could be the next 'cab off the rank' and join midfielders Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister as a big-money midfield exit.

The 20-year-old has already scored twice under Hurzeler but he's also picked up four yellows and one red in 12 Premier League appearances under the German and served a one-game suspension against Southampton following his dismissal against Bournemouth in a 2-1 win on November 23. The Cameroonian received two yellows, leading to his red, in that victory at Vitality Stadium, and after returning to the team with a goal against Fulham, was hooked at half-time at Leicester following a 40th-minute caution that had Hurzeler worried could lead to another red.

Baleba was shown seven yellows in 27 Premier League appearances last season so he's no stranger to a booking and one more on Saturday would lead to another suspension, this time for an accumulation of yellow cards.

He'll have his work cut out at the London Stadium, though, with Kudus a particularly tough opponent. The Irons attacker is fouled 1.8 times per game on average in this season's Premier League - down from 2.3 in 2022/23 - and was hauled down three times on Monday before being substituted.

Baleba may have trouble getting to grips with the silky forward and as someone averaging 1.2 fouls per game, stands out as someone who could be carded this weekend.

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