Two sides who ended 2023 with astounding wins over North London giants square off in their opening fixture of 2024 on Tuesday, as West Ham United do battle with Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Irons dented Arsenal's title aspirations with a 2-0 win over the Gunners on Thursday, while the Seagulls produced an attacking masterclass in a 4-2 beating of Tottenham Hotspur.
Match preview
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Twenty-two times David Moyes had tried and failed to mastermind an away win against Arsenal, but the West Ham boss got one over his former pupil Mikel Arteta on Thursday, where the Irons produced arguably one of their finest defensive displays under the Scotsman's wing.
For the second time in two months, Arsenal were left to bemoan a puzzling line call as Tomas Soucek tapped home after Jarrod Bowen was adjudged to have kept the ball in play, before ex-Gunner Dinos Mavropanos rose highest to double his new club's lead in the second period.
Despite ceding 77 touches to Arsenal in their own penalty area - a Premier League record for a team not to find the back of the net - West Ham offered Alphonse Areola remarkable protection throughout the 90 minutes to make it three top-flight wins on the trot.
Also shutting out Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United during a memorable December - where five-goal crushings to Fulham and Liverpool paled into insignificance - West Ham occupy sixth place in the table, clear of Man United thanks to the Red Devils' failure to take a point off of Nottingham Forest.
A London Stadium first could also be achieved by Moyes's men on Tuesday, as they are aiming to win four successive games with four clean sheets in a single season for the first time since 1994, and they only failed to score in one Premier League home game throughout the entirety of 2023.
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Neither Arsenal nor Tottenham supporters could poke fun at the other's misfortune on December 28, as while the Gunners failed to penetrate the West Ham backline, Ange Postecoglou's depleted defence were torn to shreds by the soaring Seagulls at the Amex Stadium.
Two Joao Pedro penalties, a ferocious Jack Hinshelwood strike and goal-of-the-season contender from Pervis Estupinan all contributed to a momentous win for Roberto De Zerbi's side, who did have to ride out a nervy finale as Alejo Veliz and Ben Davies cut the deficit in half for Spurs.
Whether Brighton would have notched up a quartet of strikes against a full-strength Spurs backline is another question entirely, but De Zerbi's men took full advantage of the Lilywhites' injury crisis to end a three-game winless run in the top flight, cementing an eighth-placed ranking in the process.
The Seagulls could be demoted to ninth on New Year's Day if Newcastle United draw with or beat Liverpool, though, and they have just one victory to show from their last seven Premier League games on the road, where they are still without a clean sheet in the 2023-24 top-flight campaign.
On the other side of the defensive coin, West Ham are clean sheet-less from each of their previous 13 Premier League affairs with Brighton, although their trip down south in August concluded in a 3-1 Amex victory, which ended an abysmal 12-game run without victory against the Seagulls in league action.
Team News
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West Ham put title-chasing Arsenal to the sword even without the services of Lucas Paqueta for the majority of the match; the Brazilian came off on the 33-minute mark after initially appearing to injure himself in the warm-up, although the Hammers took a risk by naming him in the XI.
Moyes has confirmed that Paqueta is suffering from a knee injury, the severity of which will be disclosed once the results of his scans are through, and he is one of three players nursing such a problem alongside Michail Antonio and Kurt Zouma, the former of whom is in with a chance of returning.
Nayef Aguerd (illness) is also touch-and-go and is one of two players due to head to the African Cup of Nations this month alongside Ghanaian sensation Mohammed Kudus, but there has been no confirmation on when the pair are expected to join up with their national teams, leaving their participation clouded in uncertainty.
As for a ravaged Brighton, De Zerbi will definitely have to make do without one of his stalwarts in Lewis Dunk, who picked up his fifth booking of the season against Tottenham for a challenge on Dejan Kulusevski, which could easily have warranted a red card.
Dunk takes his place on the sidelines with Joel Veltman (knee), Ansu Fati (thigh), Julio Enciso (knee), Kaoru Mitoma (ankle), Simon Adingra (hamstring), Solly March (knee), Adam Webster (unspecified) and Tariq Lamptey (thigh), while Igor and Facundo Buonanotte also picked up knocks in midweek.
De Zerbi should therefore have no choice but to accelerate Estupinan's return to the starting lineup after his wonder strike off the bench against Spurs, while Adam Lallana will likely benefit from Buonanotte's problem.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Areola; Coufal, Ogbonna, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Alvarez; Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Benrahma; Bowen
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Verbruggen; Milner, Hinshelwood, Van Hecke, Estupinan; Gross, Gilmour, Baleba; Lallana; Ferguson, Pedro
We say: West Ham United 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
A drab draw should be the last thing on the menu between these two continental chasers, and Brighton's exceptional attacking display versus Tottenham offers the Seagulls hope of another capital beating.
However, with the suspension of Dunk adding to the visitors' absentee crisis, a West Ham side with or without the services of Kudus should take full advantage and bang a little harder on the top-four door.
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Top tip
Ben Knapton
