Opposition View: West Ham United

Ah, West Ham United. Brighton have enjoyed rather a good time against those ‘Appy ‘Ammers from East London, picking up 10 points out of a possible 12 since winning promotion to the Premier League.

That excellent record is largely thanks to the efforts of Glenn Murray. The veteran striker has four goals in four games against West Ham in Albion colours and he was a frequent scorer against them during his days with them lot up the road and Plucky Little Bournemouth, too.

As a result, Jeff Gayle from West Ham Till I Die reckons that all Graham Potter needs to do at the Amex on Saturday is play Murray. Here’s what else he had to see ahead of the Hammers trip to Sussex.

A 10th placed finish looked like a decent season last time out for West Ham. Were Hammers fans happy with how things went?
Speaking for myself, near the beginning of the season when you posed the question I said I would be delighted with 10th, so I would say yes overall. However our disappointing early exit to a poor AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup takes the shine off the year

You’ve done some big business over the summer, bringing in Sébastien Haller for £45m. How impressed have you been with Manuel Pellegrini’s spending spree?
Pretty good. From following the West Ham chat, Haller looks to be a strong player and Pablo Fornals, our other major signing, going to enhance our midfield from all reports. The proof of the pudding as always is in the eating, so fingers crossed – let’s wait and see. Last season’s purchases were all good ones, and it’s nice to have a manager with a world view of the game

What are your realistic expectations for West Ham this season?
It would be nice to move up from 10th, but the teams immediately above us last year were Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton and Leicester. They all look quite strong. However, I would hope that Pellegrini is going to fulfil his intention to bring some improvement on last season. So I guess I would like to finish around eighth or ninth, but I expect we will be in the top twelve.

How are relations with your owners now? We didn’t hear too much about problems inside the London Stadium or people invading the pitch last season, so have things improved?
I think things are quiet at the moment, but there seems to be a discontent bubbling below the surface of a lot of clubs, it just takes a string of defeats to make it erupt. All Sullivan and Gold can do is back the manager, which to be fair they seem to be doing; hope the team win the odd game and score a few goals to keep the fans happy. As Van Morrison says “It’s hard to dance and be uptight!”

From where we’re sitting, losing 5-0 at home to Manchester City isn’t actually a bad result given how far ahead of everyone else both them and Liverpool are. What did you take from last weekend’s opening game of the season?
I’m trying not to dwell on it!

What did you make of our two meetings last season? We were very lucky to get all three points when you came to the Amex in October.
The first game at yours, we made the classic mistake of forgetting that Glenn Murray is fated to score against us. We certainly piled the pressure on against you in the second half but couldn’t find a way through. Sometimes, that’s football.

If you had to give Graham Potter one piece of advice for beating West Ham, what would you say?
Play Glenn Murray!

Who do you think is going to win the league this year and who are your three tips to go down?
I think Manchester City will win it again as any team that can beat us 5-0 must be brilliant! You always have to fancy the promoted teams to go down, but you can see Newcastle United going into a tailspin and you can be sure that Big Andy Carroll probably won’t be fit to help them out.

Finally, what’s your prediction for Saturday?
1-0 to West Ham, based on nothing but blind hope!

You can follow West Ham Till I Die on Twitter, just don’t send them anything about Murray should he score the winner.