Brighton will travel to the London Stadium in their final game of the year. This is set to be a chance for Brighton to put West Ham firmly into a relegation battle.
It has been seven games since the Hammers last win, placing the London club into relegation conversations. For a regular Premier League team for the last few years, West ham have done terribly this season.
Currently West Ham sit in seventeenth, five points off Nottingham Forest in Safety. West Ham's poor form can be put down to a variety of factors from quick change of management to new signings failing to settle in, a lot has gone wrong for the Hammers.
West Ham's last win came against newly Promoted Burnley. The Hammers will need a win to finish the year as something to build on in the second half of the season.
Brighton have been playing like a mid table team this season. Winning six, drawing six and losing six. The Seagulls have been unable to put together a run of anything good or bad this season.
They do not find themselves however in a rough period. The Seagulls last win was against Nottingham Forest back in November. Their last game was a hard fought 2-1 loss away to League leaders, Arsenal.
Brighton will be aiming for a win to ensure that this patch of losses and draws does not snowball into bringing them far down the season come the end of the season.
Brighton and West Ham have competed at similar levels in recent years. Three Draws in their last five games reflect this, both sides winning one a piece in the other two.
Their last game against each other was this month. Brighton snatched a point at home scoring from former Leeds man Rutter in the final minutes. Jarrod Bowen who has been linked with a move away either this summer or the coming January scored the only other goal in that fixture.
West Ham have struggled defensively this season but according to Nuno's traditional tactics they will continue to play pragmatic football.
This may give Brighton the opportunity to make use of their technically gifted players such as Kaoru Mitoma. A player like Mitoma may hope to produce a moment of individual quality to try and break past a shaky defence like West Ham's.
