West Ham United will be looking to put that mauling at the hands of champions Manchester City behind them as their next stop in the Premier League season is the AMEX Stadium, where Graham Potter’s Brighton & Hove Albion await.
Many tipped Brighton to struggle this season following Chris Hughton’s sacking, but Potter’s side silenced the doubters with a phenomenal 3-0 win away at Watford on the opening weekend.
That result is a total contrast to the 5-0 defeat the Hammers suffered, but Manuel Pellegrini and co. will be desperate to put things right and claim their first three points of the 2019-20 campaign.
I caught up with Adam Stenning, Brighton reporter for the Argus, ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash on the south coast to provide you with insight into our opponents.
Giving his thoughts on how Brighton kick-started the new campaign at Vicarage Road, Adam explained he was highly encouraged by how everything seemed to fall into place.
I thought the performance against Watford was excellent and everything fell into place. The counter-attacking threat on display was brilliant to see and I think on that performance alone, all of the punters tipping us for relegation ate their words a little bit.
Many questioned Brighton’s decision to appoint Potter after only achieving a mid-table Championship finish with Swansea City last term, but Adam is loving his style of play in a three-at-the-back system.
Under Potter, Brighton are finding the perfect balance between attack and defence. Brighton play a three-at-the-back system which can change to a five-at-the-back, with the wing-backs pushing forward and covering the defenders. It has been effective so far in pre-season and at Vicarage Road, but it could easily change when they play the top teams in the league.
Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller may be doubtful for the game, but he’s still wary of two Hammers stars.
I think Formals will be a big threat. He’s a skilful player who can create something out of nothing, I admire that. Another is Javier Hernandez; he’s a prolific goalscorer on his day and a player who could potentially cause Duffy, Dunk and Burn problems with his pace.
Glenn Murray has scored four goals in his last four appearances against West Ham for the Seagulls, and Adam pinpoints him as the one to watch out for.
Murray will be key for the sole reason that he has such a good goal-scoring record against West Ham and is potent when he really wants to be. Another will certainly be Gross, who has a sublime set-piece delivery on him and was a huge threat last weekend.
Brighton’s towering centre-backs are bound to cause many defences problems from set-pieces this season, and it’s been highlighted as the team’s biggest strength.
The main one is obviously set-pieces. Potter has three defenders all standing at 6’3″ or over at his disposal, so they are certainly capable of causing serious damage if not marked properly.
Although Brighton walked away with a 3-0 win last time out, Adam has revealed the score may have flattered the visitors due to a bit of vulnerability at the back which West Ham’s exciting attack could punish.
That’s a hard one. The only true weakness that springs to mind is how vulnerable the Seagulls can be at the back. There were moments last week where some of the decision-making at the back wasn’t the greatest and we were rather fortunate to keep a clean sheet.
After narrowly escaping relegation last term, it’s likely Brighton would be delighted with a mid-table finish in Potter’s first season at the helm and that’s where Adam thinks they’ll be aiming to finish.
The primary aim will be to avoid relegation firstly. Secondly, they will be looking to finish as high as possible under Potter and have performed well so far. They really look like a well-oiled unit so if they could continue, a mid-table finish is very much on the cards.
And finally, a score prediction…
3-1 Brighton.
