Michael Owen makes worrying prediction for West Ham at Brighton

Former Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen predicts a tough battle as Brighton welcome West Ham to the Amex Stadium on Saturday night
Michael Owen predicts a tough Saturday evening battle at the Amex StadiumMichael Owen predicts a tough Saturday evening battle at the Amex Stadium
Michael Owen predicts a tough Saturday evening battle at the Amex Stadium

The pressure if off Albion as they Premier League safety was confirmed earlier this, while West Ham are sixth in the table and still battling for a place in Europe.

Brighton will be without both Lewis Dunk and Neal Maupay as the pair were shown red cards in the defeat at Wolves last time out and serve a ban this weekend.

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Solly March (knee) and Tariq Lamptey (hamstring) are also out with doubts over Davy Propper (ankle) and Joel Veltman (calf) – although Adam Lallana should be fit following his own calf issue.

"West Ham’s top four ambitions were dealt a serious blow on Sunday, losing 2-1 to Everton," wrote Owen in his Bet Victor predictions blog."That was their third defeat in four matches, so it’s fair to say this dip in form has come at the worst possible time for David Moyes’ side.

"Brighton are always an awkward opponent. The Seagulls’ have played well without winning a lot this season.

Just look at their recent form – they have only won once in their last six Premier League matches.

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"Both sides aren’t in the best form, so I think it’s likely this one could end in a 1-1 draw."

Declan Rice could return for West Ham after six weeks out with a knee injury.

Aaron Cresswell should also be fit despite limping off in last weekend’s defeat by Everton.

But Mark Noble, Arthur Masuaku and Manuel Lanzini are injury doubts.

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Brighton provisional squad: Sanchez, Steele, White, Webster, Burn, Veltman, Karbownik, Bissouma, Gross, Moder, Propper, Caicedo, Alzate, Mac Allister, Lallana, Trossard, Izquierdo, Jahanbakhsh, Welbeck, Zeqiri, Connolly, Tau.

West Ham provisional squad: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Fornals, Bowen, Antonio, Lingard, Randolph, Diop, Fredericks, Balbuena, Johnson, Coventry, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Odubeko.