West Ham United will return to Premier League action on Saturday, as they take on Brighton & Hove Albion at the London Stadium.
The Hammers have picked up four points from their previous two matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth, and they will be looking to build on that with a victory against the Seagulls this weekend.
With Brighton on a four-game winless run, West Ham have a perfect opportunity to seal maximum points from the home encounter.
Predicted West Ham XI vs Brighton
Lukasz Fabianski pulled off some stunning saves last Monday against Bournemouth. He will continue to operate between the sticks, with Alphonse Areola once again starting from the bench.
Konstantinos Mavropanos had a poor outing last time, as he gave away a free-kick from which the Cherries scored. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher slammed the Greece international’s mistake, calling it ‘absolutely ridiculous.’
Jean-Clair Todibo is expected to replace Mavropanos, joining Max Kilman in the heart of defence.
Vladimir Coufal performed impressively on Monday and he deserves another start at right-back, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka playing on the opposite flank.
In midfield, Tomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez should keep their first-team berths, although the latter wasn’t very convincing against Bournemouth.
Carlos Soler will be suspended for Saturday’s home fixture after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season. This means Lopetegui will bring Lucas Paqueta for the attacking midfield role.
Niclas Fullkrug featured as a substitute in the previous match, but we are expecting him to be part of the starting line-up against the Seagulls this weekend.
Predicted West Ham XI vs Brighton
Fabianski; Coufal, Todibo, Kilman, Wan-Bissaka; Soucek, Alvarez; Bowen, Paqueta, Kudus; Fullkrug
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