“Don’t buy a pint at the London Stadium. You should stop off in Croydon instead”

As Brighton prepare to face West Ham at the London Stadium, there are a lot of questions we could do with a Hammers fan’s expert opinion on.

How good is it travelling Europe watching your team on an unexpected run to the semi finals of the Europa League? Why have West Ham failed to beat the Albion in 10 Premier League meetings so far?

The most important issue though for any Seagull supporter making the way to the Stratford on Sunday – how much will a pint really cost at the London Stadium?

Moretti and Heineken at £7.60 a pint for the visit of Manchester City on the opening day of the Premier League season went viral.

A bottle of Coke was £4.50. Crisps were £2.50. Unfortunately, the London Stadium does not sell Starbust. One can only imagine the outcry though if they were priced at something utterly ridiculous, like £3.20.

Thankfully, we found a West Ham fan to answer all these questions for us. Take it away Jeff from West Ham Till I Die, who had some interesting advice to avoid re-mortgaging your home to afford a half time beer…

West Ham secured European qualification for the second season running, this time in the Europa Conference. A competition I would bloody love to see Brighton in. Are you looking forward to another year travelling the continent?

Yes definitely looking forward to it. The Euro Conference will give Moyes a chance to keep more of the squad involved. Hopefully we can emulate last season’s semi final placing in the Europa League but go one further and reach the final this time out.

Was last season’s seventh place finish a success? Or were you expecting more having finished sixth in 2020-21?

Any season where we finish in the top half of the table is a success to me. Unfortunately we went off the boil a bit towards the end.

Losing to Frankfurt in the Europa League semis was a blow, and then we lost our way in the league meaning we missed out on sixth.

Overall though, it was still one of our best ever seasons for years. The past two years have been great.

What are your expectations for the current campaign?

A good European campaign and finishing in the top 10.

West Ham have lost two Premier League games from two without scoring so far. Is that a cause for concern or far too early in the season to be worried?

Normally I would say yes, but we should have done better against Forest last week. And Man City are Man City.

We got our Europa Conference campaign off to a good start on Thursday night against Viborg, winning 3-1 with all three strikers scoring.

That should boost confidence ahead of Sunday, so I am not currently worried.

On the transfer front, West Ham have splashed £67 million so far. Are you happy with that business or are more signings needed?

We have not managed to get all of the players we have been after even with the money being spent, but those coming in so far look promising. We are still looking for a full back and a defender.

Sorry that we have to ask this… but how have Brighton become West Ham’s bogey team? It is a source of bafflement to most Albion fans.

God knows, we can’t quite work it out ourselves. Our traditional bogey teams were Liverpool and Everton. We finally manage to break have the Everton bogey, and then you take over!

But I must say you’ve deserved all of the victories you have had against us. I remember going to your place when you had just opened your new ground and winning 1-0 without breaking a sweat.

I think the West Ham players who played that night thought that should always be the case. Now Mark Noble has retired, there is nobody left from that win, so that is probably not an excuse that washes anymore.

I must confess though that since Glenn Murray is no longer on your books, I give us more of a chance. He was guaranteed to score.

In light of the past five years of Premier League meetings between us, what is your prediction for Sunday?

I would love to see us win, but given recent history will take a point.

Finally, the most important question of all…. How much can we really expect to pay for a pint at the London Stadium?

Ha ha! I always get my drinks in before the game. You should stop off in Croydon on the way down instead.

Thanks to Jeff from West Ham Till I Die for answering our questions ahead of West Ham v Brighton. You can follow him on Twitter and let him know how that pre-game pint in Croydon goes.