West Ham visit league leaders Brighton in the Saturday evening kick off. Is there another shock result on the cards?

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in mid-April 2012 when I took my seat in the Bobby Moore Upper (previously the South Bank in old money) looking forward to the game against Brighton, who we had beaten earlier in the season as we pushed for automatic promotion under Sam Allardyce. There were just four games to go as we chased Reading and Southampton who occupied the top two slots. We had been at the top of the Championship throughout much of January and February, but a run of seven draws in nine games had seen us slip down to third.  

The game was a classic right from when Ricardo Vaz Te opened the scoring in the third minute with an explosive shot from outside the area. Vaz Te was in prime form at the time having scored in each of the four games prior to this one, and he scored with a header a few minutes later. Kevin Nolan tapped in an easy third before Vaz Te completed his hat trick in the second half with a stunning overhead kick. A deflected Carlton Cole strike and an own goal completed the scoring as we ran out 6-0 winners.

A draw and two wins followed in the final three games but it wasn’t enough for automatic promotion but there was a happy ending as we defeated Cardiff home and away in the semi-final of the play offs, and then beat Blackpool 2-1 in the Wembley final in May with a very late goal from, yes you know the answer – Ricardo Vaz Te.

Brighton were a decent progressive side and they eventually achieved promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2016-17 season. That means that they have been in the top division for six seasons now and are just embarking on their seventh. And what a start! Two 4-1 wins sees them at the top of the table (admittedly after just 2 games), with Manchester City and Arsenal the only other sides to take maximum points at this early stage. But, of course we are not far behind (just two points) after our unexpected 3-1 win against big-spending Chelsea last Sunday, and we sit in equal fifth with a win and a draw.

Brighton have continued to improve each season and their sixth-place finish in the last campaign saw them qualify for the Europa League alongside Liverpool and, of course, West Ham. Let’s hope we can avoid them because we can’t beat them! In the twelve games against them in the Premier League since their promotion we have drawn six and lost six.

We have a better home record against them than on our travels to the South Coast. In the six away games we have drawn twice and lost four times, scoring 4 goals and conceding 13. In the six games at the London Stadium we have drawn four and lost twice scoring 8 but letting in 13. In those 12 games Brighton have never failed to score at least one goal against us, four times scoring 3 times and of course they gave us a 4-0 thrashing last season.

What is the secret behind Brighton’s rise to prominence? They have made significant strides due I believe to careful financial and strategic management with prudent decisions regarding recruitment of players and the club structure. They have identified and signed players to fit their playing style. Adaptable tactics and generally the tactical acumen of the manager and coaching staff has allowed the team to compete against the ‘big teams’. Coupled with their focus on youth development via the academy, a passionate support, and the ability to move players on for extraordinary transfer fees whilst replacing them with like for like replacements have been essential ingredients for success.

They don’t have a scattergun approach to player recruitment. They know exactly the types of players they need to fill various positions and then scout them and sign them. I think that they are a superbly run football club that fully deserve their position in the higher reaches of the Premier League.

As for our start to the campaign, would you have been happy with four points and equal fifth in the league after two games? Last season it took us five games to reach the four points mark, and we were still stuck on four after seven games and sitting in the relegation zone at that time at the end of September.

The continuing debate rumbles on amongst our fans on social media. The split between the Moyes lovers and those who’d like to see a different style of play from a forward-thinking coach. At the time of writing we have three significant recruits to the squad in Alvarez, Mavropanos, and the one I like most, Ward-Prowse. We still need more quality signings – at the moment a few names are constantly being banded about, but as always with our club, if there is any truth in any of them then the negotiations do drag on somewhat. I don’t for one moment expect any of those I’ve seen linked to arrive here. In fact as I write this with evening games being played I even read that one of them has scored a hat-trick for his club in the Europa League! Our recruitment of attacking footballers has generally been sketchy with little apparent thought as to their fit to our playing style. And that’s not just in the Moyes era, it goes back way beyond that.

For the time being Paqueta seems to be staying with potential exits for one or two. Who knows until the deals are done and the transfer window slams shut? Why oh why the window cannot shut before a season gets underway is beyond me.

What will happen in our third game of the season? Brighton have scored 13 goals against us at the London Stadium and 13 goals also at the Falmer Stadium. This is our 13^th meeting in the Premier League. Will this be unlucky 13? Our opponents must be relishing the thought of playing against a team they never lose to and generally beat. They are around 2/1 on to win the game whereas we are more than 4/1 against. But we had similar underdog odds against Chelsea and look what happened there. Despite having Estupinan, Mitoma and March in my Fantasy Football squad I’ll be hoping they all have a poor week.

The fixtures computer has given us three away games out of the first four fixtures (it’s away at Luton in the next one) which seems a little unkind before the first international break. Will we be heading to the break with four points from four games, or perhaps with ten? It’s time for another shock result. It’s about time we beat the Seagulls. Few expect it to happen. Few expected us to beat Chelsea 3-1, especially at the half-time interval. But we did. Can it happen? We don’t have a chance do we? Do we??