West Ham Predicted Line Up To Tackle Brighton’s Seagulls

With the holiday period upon us, West Ham have Brighton up first with their congested schedule and expect a strong team to be named against the Seagulls.

Brighton have been a worrying team for West Ham to handle since their promotion a few seasons back. Officially the Hammers’ bogey team, Brighton have some issues of their own at the moment, including Tariq Lamptey being out, and David Moyes could be favourites to take all three points.

For West Ham, a few familiar names are speculated to be returning to the lineup to rejuvenate the attack coming off of a 3-0 loss to Chelsea. First and foremost, Michail Antonio is expected to be a late decision on whether he plays or not. He’s been back on grass training for the better part of two weeks, but Moyes cannot rush him back again.

Other than Antonio, expect Manuel Lanzini to make the team to face Brighton and even to feature in Moyes starting XI. The Argentinian playmaker was sidelined after a strong showing off the bench against Crystal Palace when he tweaked his hamstring, losing out on a start against Chelsea.

Here is the predicted team to face Brighton:

Fabianski
Coufal – Balbuena – Ogbonna – Cresswell
Rice – Soucek
Bowen – Lanzini – Benrahma
Haller

Bench: Randolph, Fredericks, Johnson, Diop, Noble, Snodgrass, Fornals, Yarmolenko, Antonio

With extended benches, only David Martin and Craig Dawson miss out on the team, with Michail Antonio returning to the matchday squad and Manuel Lanzini replacing Pablo Fornals in the starting XI. It has been a long time coming, but Fornals’ effectiveness has been waning, and a benching was warranted.

Expect rotation this week, however, as three matches between Sunday and Friday are on the docket for the Hammers. Nothing is written in stone, but Antonio is too fragile to be risked, Lanzini deserves a start finally, and Said Benrahma on the left-wing is an absolute must.