da prosport bet： West Ham United will be looking to pick up their third Premier League win of the season when they host newly-promoted Brighton and Hove Albion at the London Stadium on Friday night.
da bet7： Following a disappointing start to the campaign in which they lost their opening three top flight matches, Slaven Bilic’s men have bounced back by taking eight points from the last 15 available.
The last of those came in the 1-1 draw against Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday, when they almost held out for the win following Andy Carroll’s 27th minute red card before Chris Wood found the net for the hosts five minutes from the end.
Meanwhile, Brighton have also accumulated eight points so far in their first ever Premier League campaign, although they lie above their opponents on Friday on goal difference following their 1-1 draw against Everton at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
Both clubs know that they have players that can make the difference in this clash, and they will be looking to those individuals to make an impact in east London.
Here are four key battles that will decide the result when West Ham host Brighton…
Aaron Cresswell vs Anthony Knockaert
Knockaert would have hoped to have made a bigger impact for Brighton in the Premier League this season having been such a key player in their Championship promotion campaign, but it hadn’t quite happened for the Frenchman – until Sunday’s clash against Everton that is.
An ankle injury during pre-season and the fact that he is still dealing with the death of his father in 2016 were probably two reasons, but the 25-year-old looked to have secured all three points for the Seagulls last weekend before Wayne Rooney’s late penalty.
The winger will come up against Cresswell,who has kept Arthur Masuaku out of the starting line-up in the top flight and kept his place in the England team despite some disappointing performances, at the London Stadium on Friday and he will know that he needs to be on his game when he faces Knockaert.
Michail Antonio vs Markus Suttner
After being West Ham’s top goalscorer last season and after picking up the Hammer of the Year award, Irons supporters would have been expecting more explosive performances from Antonio this year.
However, the winger has struggled with injury issues and he had to come off after just 28 minutes in the 3-2 defeat at home to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur last month.
The 27-year-old has still started every Premier League game since the opening day loss to Manchester United though, and he finally got his first goal of the campaign in the 1-1 draw against Burnley on Sunday when he took advantage of a defensive mix-up to finish into an empty net.
Suttner arrived from German side Ingolstadt during the summer and he has quickly established himself as Brighton’s first-choice left-back having appeared in seven of their eight top flight fixtures.
He will certainly need to be aware of Antonio’s strength and pace on Friday night.
Cheikhou Kouyate vs Pascal Gross
Gross has probably been Brighton’s standout player so far this season, and the attacking midfielder could be their danger man at the London Stadium on Friday night.
Usually playing behind the striker, the 26-year-old has scored two goals – both in the 3-1 win against West Bromwich Albion last month – while he has also provided three assists.
With Mark Noble and Pedro Obiang seemingly behind Manuel Lanzini and Kouyate in the central midfield pecking order right now, it will like be the latter that has the task of stopping Gross at London Stadium.
While the Senegal international perhaps hasn’t reproduced the form he has shown previously so far this season, he has the strength and defensive abilities to deal with his German opponent on Friday.
Javier Hernandez vs Uwe Hunemeier
While he has scored a not too shabby three goals in eight Premier League appearances for the Irons so far this season, you still get the feeling that the Irons are still yet to see the best of their summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen.
The Mexico international often found himself pushed out wide in a 4-2-3-1 formation in order to accommodate Andy Carroll earlier in the campaign, but Bilic has chosen to go with a simpler 4-4-2 system in recent weeks.
With Carroll missing this game through suspension, the pressure will be on Hernandez to find the breakthrough against the newly-promoted club.
The man tasked with dealing with the former Manchester United man may well be Hunemeier, who has played just 17 minutes of Premier League football – against Everton on Sunday when he replaced the injured Shane Duffy – this term.
With Duffy a doubt for Friday with a groin problem, Chris Hughton will be looking for the 31-year-old to step up to the plate and stake his claim for a regular spot in the starting XI.