Lewis Jones predicts West Ham loss at Brighton
Sky Sports pundit Lewis Jones has predicted a 1-0 victory for Brighton against West Ham United, putting an end to the Hammers’ Champions League aspirations.
West Ham looked like realistic contenders until a few weeks ago, but a bad run of form has now seen them drop to sixth in the table.
A defeat against Brighton all but dashes their hopes of finishing in the top four as Chelsea would need just one point from three games to ensure their London rivals don’t taste Champions League football next season.
To qualify, the Hammers will need other results to go in their favour, but also get the job done themselves.
The first hurdle on that road is Brighton. Graham Potter’s men have been far better than the table suggests and Jones is predicting them to pull off an upset.
In his Sky Sports column, he wrote,”The door has come ajar again for West Ham in their pursuit of a top-four finish but this isn’t an ideal fixture.
“Expectation will be on them here to leave with three points but in truth, there really isn’t much between the teams despite their league positions. Brighton are underrated, West Ham overrated.
“Plus, the Hammers looked quite clueless in the final third when tasked with breaking down a well organised back five against Everton. They will face a similar problem here.”
No more excuses
The last few weeks have been pretty disastrous and one cannot pin the blame entirely on David Moyes. We’ve looked like a shadow of the side that took the league by storm in the second half of the season, and are very likely to miss out on the Champions League spots.
Recently we’ve lost winnable games against Newcastle and Everton, and even against Chelsea we could’ve tried to get something from the contest. Every point at this stage is vital and picking up none from those three games has cost us heavily.
We’ve got to get our act together for this one and throw the kitchen sink to pick up all three points.
It’s still not in our hands but Chelsea face Leicester soon and could drop points there while Liverpool’s erratic form may be a thorn in their side in these last three games.
We’ve got Michail Antonio back among the goals and Said Benrahma doing well on the left flank. Jesse Lingard’s won Player of the Month but has been quiet in our last two games. It’s time he channels his best form and helps us challenge for fourth.
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