Former Chelsea man names the two players Brighton need to be wary of in West Ham prediction

Albion and the Hammers both pulled off impressive wins in the Premier League last time out, with the former beating Tottenham 4-2 at the Amex and the latter downing Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates.

The results mean the Seagulls are eighth, three points and two places behind the east London outfit – who won the reverse fixture 3-1 back in August.

Ahead of this meeting, Sutton has backed West Ham, who ended a 12-game winless run against the south coast team with the Amex triumph, to secure a 2-1 home win.

The ex-Chelsea man added that he expects David Moyes’ men to sit deep and hit them on the counter-attack and that Brighton need to keep Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen - who have 22 goals between them in all competitions this season – under wraps if they want to get a result.

Sutton said in his BBC Sport predictions column: “West Ham sucker-punched Arsenal on Thursday, as they so often do against teams who really come on to them - they did it against Tottenham at the start of December, and it was the same story when they beat Brighton at the beginning of the season.

“The Seagulls will fancy themselves to put that right on the back of their win over Spurs, but you just know that the Hammers will be happy to sit in and frustrate them. Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen are so important to West Ham and the way that they hit teams on the break, and I can see them playing a key role here too.”