West Ham United vs Brighton Predictions

• Three of West Ham’s last seven matches have finished all square
• Brighton have drawn two of their last four games
• Three of the last four head-to-head meetings have finished level

Festive flops face off in East London

West Ham will try to climb out of the relegation zone when they entertain Brighton at London Stadium on Tuesday.

December has not been full of Christmas cheer for either club with West Ham losing three on the bounce after opening the month with two draws and the Seagulls going winless in five festive fixtures.

Brighton have lost their way since a 4-3 home defeat to Aston Villa halted their momentum, dropping from fifth in the table to their current slot of 12th.

Brighton almost bagged a draw at Arsenal

Fabian Hurzeler made three changes to his line-up at Arsenal on Saturday and saw his side almost snatch a draw in the closing moments. Yankuba Minteh, who was denied a spectacular equaliser by David Raya’s fingertips, should come back into the side for this trip to Stratford, and potentially Danny Welbeck too.

The seven-goal Seagulls top scorer has been missed for his link-up play and leadership as he nurses a back injury that has limited him to only one start this month. Several other Brighton players have failed to find their form this term, most notably Carlos Baleba and Kaoru Mitoma, and they are not really sharing the goals around.

Brighton competed well in away defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool recently, so they should fare better against the struggling Hammers. They are undefeated in their last four meetings with the Londoners, who have lost their last three games and remain winless in seven.

Hammers have lacked a cutting edge

West Ham have now only picked up 10 points from Nuno Espirito Santo’s 13 games in charge, with just Burnley and Wolves collecting fewer since the Portuguese tactician replaced Graham Potter at the end of September.

They too are struggling to put the ball in the back of the net and spurned a couple of good chances before Fulham punished them in a 1-0 home loss on Saturday. Nuno needs a result here, but Brighton are likely to offer a greater threat in attack, so a draw appeals the most in the match result market.

These two sides have been deadlocked in three of their last four meetings, including the 1-1 draw at Amex Stadium earlier this month when Georginio Rutter rescued a point in stoppage time.