Brighton & Hove Albion host West Ham United on Saturday as the second round of Premier League 2019/20 fixtures get under way.
Both teams experienced contrasting opening matches, with Brighton claiming a resounding win over Watford and West Ham suffering a thrashing at the hands of Manchester City.
West Ham couldn’t have had a tougher opening fixture and the reigning champions picked up where they left off last season by thrashing the Hammers.
A Raheem Sterling hat-trick along with goals from Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero condemned West Ham to a 5-0 loss.
On the other hand, Brighton enjoyed a fantastic start to the new campaign with a convincing 3-0 win away at Watford.
Brighton took the lead through an own goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure in the first half. Florin Andone made it 2-0 on 65 minutes before a debut goal from Neal Maupay sealed a perfect start for the Seagulls.
Maupay came off the bench to make his debut for Brighton against Watford and his immediate impact must have put him in contention for a place in the starting eleven on Saturday.
Despite their heavy defeat, West Ham also had an impressive debutant on display in their opening match.
Sebastian Haller joined the club from Frankfurt in the summer transfer window and showed glimpses of real quality against Man City.
The giant French forward will be hoping to open his goal scoring account for the Hammers against Brighton.
Jose Izquierdo, Yves Bissouma and Ezequiel Schelotto will not be available for Brighton as they recover from injuries.
For West Ham, Mark Noble is racing to be fit for the trip to the Amex Stadium while Felipe Anderson is a doubt after limping off the pitch against Man City.
Remarkably, the head-to-head record between the two teams is level. Both sides have recorded eighteen victories in this fixture, with the fifteen other matches ending as draws.
However, the recent history favors Brighton. The Seagulls are unbeaten in their last four top-flight meetings with West Ham.
In two of their last four meetings, Brighton have scored three goals against the Hammers and this trend looks set to continue on Saturday.
West Ham lost 10 of their 19 away matches in the Premier League last season and this doesn’t bode well for the season ahead.
Brighton will be full of confidence following their opening-day victory and new manager Graham Potter will be keen to extend the club’s 100% record.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score and that Brighton will clinch the victory.