Vital fixture in the battle to stay up as Brighton travel to West Ham

A battle for survival, as 15th place Brighton travel to 17th place West Ham United with the point gap between Brighton and the drop zone being only two points.

The Hammers were beaten mid-week by Champions-elect Liverpool 2-0. Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the goals for the Reds to secure yet another win for the Merseyside club.

Brighton were beaten heavily by relegation rival Bournemouth. A 3-1 win for the Cherries added an extra three points as they fight to stay up for yet another season in the Premier League.

Team news

West Ham will be without Felipe Anderso, Ryan Fredericks, Tomas Soucek, Jack Wilshire and Andriy Yarmelenko.

For Brighton, they are likely to be without Leon Balogun, Dan Burn and Jose Izquierdo as they battle to try and get back to full fitness.

West Ham manager David Moyes spoke about Jarrod Bowen and confidence.

“Yes, we’re interested in him. I hope that it could get concluded but I’d be jumping the gun if I said it was done at this moment in time.

“I think he could be a big success. I think if you score goals in the numbers he does in the Championship, it gives you a great chance of doing so in the Premier League, but as well we know it’s a step up.

“We know we’ll have to play very well and be at our best. We’ve showed good signs in some games that we’re improving. Overall, the players have been really committed and determined to get it right and hopefully we can do it this weekend.”

Brighton manager Graham Potter has backed his men to show character and resilience by bouncing back from last week’s defeat to AFC Bournemouth when they face West Ham United tomorrow.

“Mental strength is going to be important,” he said. “Anyone at the top level of any sport would tell you how much impact psychology can have. My players wouldn’t have got to this level without having that.

“We’re in an exciting position and fighting in the hardest competition in the world, so this is a wonderful challenge for us. It’s not easy, but you wouldn’t expect it to be.

“We’ve done quite a lot of stuff well but we’re in a tricky situation and we have to stick together to find solutions and that’s what we’ll do.”

Head-to-head

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