West Ham vs Brighton betting preview, team news and prediction

West Ham will be looking to get their Premier League season up and running when they take on Brighton at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Hammers enjoyed an excellent campaign last season as they were right in the mix for the top four and reached the latter stages of the Europa League before falling just short of both objectives.

David Moyes’ side appear to be suffering from a hangover as they head into the weekend action sitting joint bottom of the table having lost both of their opening two league matches so far.

A resounding loss to Man City on the opening weekend was followed by a narrow 1-0 defeat at newly-promoted Nottingham Forest last week, so West Ham will be desperate to get their first points on the board on Sunday.

They welcome a Brighton side to London who should be in confident mood following an encouraging start to the new season. The Seagulls impressed during a 2-1 win over Man Utd at Old Trafford before picking up another valuable point against Newcastle last time out.

Betting odds

West Ham are the pre-match favourites to win this weekend with betting sites pricing the Hammers at 13/10 to win on home soil.

Brighton can be backed at odds of 21/10 to leave the capital with all three points while you can bet on the points being shared with the draw available at 21/10.

Summer signing Gianluca Scamacca was on target in midweek during West Ham’s Conference League clash with Viborg. The youngster will be hoping to find the back of the net again on Sunday and he’s 6/1 to open the scoring.

West Ham will be confident of winning this game and a 2-1 home win at odds of 15/2 looks tempting. If we add Scamacca to open the scoring in a 2-1 West Ham win, we get excellent odds of 52/1.

Team news

West Ham will be without Nayef Aguerd as the defender is still nursing an ankle injury that he sustained in pre-season. Craig Dawson is also a major doubt with a thigh injury that’s hampered him lately.

Moyes could make changes following the European game on Thursday night with the likes of Michail Antonio, Kurt Zouma, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma all pushing for recalls.

As for Brighton, they have virtually a fully-fit squad to choose from with Jakub Moder the only absentee. He’s out with a knee injury.

Prediction

West Ham have a quality squad and should always cause opposition teams problems with the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Antonio in their attack. Brighton are an excellent passing team on their day and should be able to give the Hammers a tough game.

However, we think West Ham will just edge this one to pick up their first points of the new season. West Ham 2-1 Brighton