West Ham United

Nuno Espirito Santo makes just the one change to the West Ham side that lost 1-0 to Fulham on Saturday, with Callum Wilson replacing Crysencio Summerville in attack.

West Ham XI: Areola, Walker-Peters, Todibo, Kilman, Scarles, Magassa, Potts, Fernandes, Paqueta, Wilson, Bowen.

Subs: Hermansen, Summerville, Mavropanos, Rodriguez, Soucek, Earthy, Kante, Golambeckis, Mayers.

Fabian Hurzeler makes four changes following Brighton's 2-1 defeat to Premier League leaders Arsenal at the weekend.

Joel Veltman, Yankuba Minteh, Danny Welbeck and James Milner all come in, with Diego Coppola, Jack Hinshelwood, Brajan Gruda and Georginio Rutter dropping to the bench.

Milner, who turns 40 next week, is making his second Premier League start of the season.

Kaoru Mitoma missed Saturday's game to Arsenal through illness but is fit enough to start on the bench. Solly March is not quite ready to return from a knee injury.

Brighton XI: Verbruggen, Dunk, Van Hecke, Veltman, Kadioglu, Ayari, Milner, De Cuyper, Minteh, Gomez, Welbeck.

Subs: Steele, Gruda, Rutter, Hinshelwood, Watson, Boscagli, Mitoma, Coppola, Kostoulas.

Holly Turbutt
Fan contributor

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham find ourselves sitting firmly in the relegation zone with a growing gap separating us and the rest of the league. The question is: have years of poor strategy caught up with us?

There has been growing despair surrounding West Ham's ownership, with everything going noticeably downhill since our Conference League win.

Yes, there was already a definite lack of structured investment at the club, but we had the opportunity to push on from our European success. However, a scattergun approach has seen us waste our money on signings.

Niclas Fullkrug and Luis Guilherme are the perfect examples of how we have not been able to follow through on initial plans.

The pair were bought as part of then-technical director Tim Steidten's strategy, but having paid £27m for Fullkrug and recently loaning him to AC Milan, as well as signing Guilherme for £25.5m and not featuring him in our past five squads, it is clear these signings have been errors in judgement.

They have cost us more than £50m with next to no return on investment, but are not the only players where we have made wrong decisions.

While we do have a depleted squad, our defence is one of the worst I can remember and boasts only one clean sheet this season. That came against Nottingham Forest, who were ironically managed by Nuno Espirito Santo at the time.

Fans' frustration continues to grow as points are repeatedly dropped at the end of games, many of which have come about simply from switching off and failing to do the basics. These fine margins have cost us greatly, despite performances looking somewhat better under Nuno.

Understandably, our form has put a question mark over Nuno's future at the club, but personally, I feel that changing head coach would achieve very little. Despite Jarrod Bowen doing his best, we appear to have no clear leaders, alongside limited options on the bench and very little visible fight to turn our luck around.

Now more than ever, we are relying on players to make something special happen against the odds - and for the owners to invest in ways that will save our season.

Find more from Holly Turbutt at West Ham Network, external

Sophie Brown
BBC Sport journalist

West Ham are bidding for a rare home win when they host Brighton, who are hoping to end their head coach's December hoodoo.

Few home comforts for Hammers

Even with a win on Tuesday, West Ham are guaranteed to reach the halfway point of the season in the relegation zone, where they have lingered for much of the campaign.

The Hammers have claimed just 13 points so far, their fewest at this stage of a league season since 2010-11, when they also had 13 points and went on to finish bottom of the top flight.

Defeat in their final game of 2025 would be a club record 12th at home in a calendar year and would cement 12 months of wretched form at London Stadium, where home fans did not see a win from the end of February to the beginning of November.

This time last year, West Ham head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was overseeing a 10th league win for Nottingham Forest, who began 2025 in second place. That must feel a long time ago for Nuno, whose Hammers' side have won three times this season and now face a real battle to avoid relegation.

In the course of steering Forest into Europe for the first time in 30 years, Nuno's side registered a famous 7-0 home win over Tuesday's opponents Brighton.

Given West Ham have scored just 10 goals in total in their nine Premier League home games this season, a repeat of that scoreline seems unlikely. But beleaguered Hammers fans would settle for any sort of a win that would give them some hope going into the new year.

Brighton have never lost a Premier League match at West Ham (W2, D6) but the time as well as the place might be problematic on Tuesday, as Fabian Hurzeler is yet to see his side win in December, a run that has now stretched to 11 matches.

The Seagulls were in the top five going into this month but three defeats and two draws have seen them slip into the bottom half of the table.

Brighton were a David Raya fingertip away from earning a draw at Arsenal, having come alive in the second half after being dominated in the opening 45 minutes.

Slow starts away from home are something that have dogged the Seagulls this season. They have a gone a goal down within 25 minutes of seven of their nine Premier League games on the road, with five of those ending in defeat.

On top of this, Brighton have only won their final league game in one of the past five calendar years (D2, L2). A more solid start against a struggling side could see them end 2025 on a high – and an end to Hurzeler's December curse.

Things are turning uglier by the week for West Ham. They are in a real relegation battle now, and their boss Nuno Espirito Santo is absolutely desperate for a win, but it is hard to see where it will come from.

Brighton are inconsistent but they have shown their quality by pushing Liverpool and Arsenal close in recent weeks.

I don't see anything other than a Seagulls victory here.

The Hammers are so low on confidence that, even if this is a tight game, you get the feeling they will lose it like they did against Fulham on Saturday.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Image source, Getty Images

Nuno Espirito Santo says he is looking to "rebalance" his squad in January as the Hammers sit in the relegation zone, five points adrift of safety, following Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Fulham.

"[January] is very important," Nuno said ahead of Tuesday's visit to Brighton. "We need to rebalance our squad. There are positions where we need to have more options."

"Now it's time to focus on Brighton. After that the club is working and the transfer window is open, we'll make decisions."

West Ham are targeting a striker to replace AC Milan-bound Niclas Fullkrug, while midfielder James Ward-Prowse is set to leave.

"We have options, decisions that we have to make, and to manage the playersas best as we can all the players," Nuno said.

West Ham came close to beating Brighton three weeks ago but conceded a controversial last-gasp Georginio Rutter equaliser.

"It was a good game," he said. "Like Saturday, it went away from us in the final moments of the game. Brighton is a good team, so we have to get ready."

Asked why his current team have been unable to replicate that level of defensive resilience as last year, Nuno simply said: "Everything is different. We cannot expect things to happen the same way, because we are different."

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between West Ham and Fulham.

Here are some of your comments:

West Ham fans

Peter: Ollie Scarles is a kid and we all make mistakes as we move forward. Who was marking Raul Jimenez? Who couldn't stick the ball in the net? Players with years of experience. Who facilitated the buying of this bunch of no-hopers? Are you reading this, David Sullivan and Karren Brady?

Mo: The manager is not brave enough with his substitutions. He waits for the opposition to make changes. This game was crying out for Callum Wilson, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavrapanos in place of Lucas Paqueta, Scarles, and Soungoutou Magassa.

David: This is all down to the ownership. We have had a succession of managers who, while not being Pep Guardiola or Mikel Arteta, are more than capable of getting us to mid-table. Poor transfer choices and the move to that ridiculous stadium are still a monkey on our back. All down to the penny-pinching owners. If Wrexham can get Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, Birmingham Tom Brady, and Swansea Snoop Dog, Martha Stewart and Luka Modric, why can't we get some big-name, media friendly, enthusiastic investors?

Simon: We huffed and puffed but Fulham blew our house down. Since David Moyes left, we have been on a downhill trajectory. Tim Steiden is one of our worst signings ever. The duds he has bought we now want to sell and the person you blame for that hire is David Sullivan. With no striker and a brittle defence, we do look doomed.

Fulham fans

Teddy: I thought we had control of the game and that it was a deserved win. West Ham had a few good chances but I didn't once lose faith in Bernd Leno. An important three points and European qualification is back on!

Bill: Grinding out results like this with three players away at Afcon along with injuries is very encouraging. Our form recently has been outstanding, so with shrewd transfers in January, who knows where we could end up?

Lee: Marco Silva is getting the best out of a small squad of experienced players. Fulham may lack flair and look pedestrian at times but they play as a team and do their homework on their opponents. It looks like another mid-table finish beckons and for a club with the budget and resources of Fulham, that is commendable. Silva may feel that the owners lack the ambition to back him properly and I fear that this will be his last season with the club. A vital win for us against a West Ham side that lacks confidence and may well lose the battle against relegation.

Gordon: We rode our luck. We have the players to make a half-chance count but soon our luck will run out. West Ham forged a number of chances and sliced us open a number of times but lacked luck with some of their shots. We need to use this momentum to tighten up at the back and work on creating more chances so we don't rely on Harry Wilson and his impossible shots.

West Ham could let Brazil midfielder Lucas Paqueta leave the club in January if an acceptable offer is made for the 28-year-old. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Pundits Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney join host Gabby Logan to bring you the action and talking points from Friday and Saturday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Arsenal 2-1 Brighton

• Liverpool 2-1 Wolves

• Chelsea 1-2 Aston Villa

Michael Emons
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

It was another miserable day for West Ham at London Stadium.

The Hammers had chances to get a much-needed win, only for a failure to finish off their opportunities, as well as a late defensive error, to prove costly.

Raul Jimenez headed into the net in the 85th minute from Harry Wilson's cross for what proved to be the winner after Ollie Scarles had missed a chance to clear.

The result deepens the Hammers' relegation fears and they will be wondering how they left empty handed when they had chances to win in a game they would have targeted for three points.

Captain Jarrod Bowen and substitute Callum Wilson both missed two good chances and the Hammers' lack of creativity and clinical finishing was again exposed.

They have now only picked up 10 points from Nuno Espirito Santo's 13 games in charge, with just Burnley and Wolves collecting fewer since Nuno replaced the sacked Graham Potter at the end of September.

As well as the club struggling on the pitch, there have been frequent protests throughout the season from the Hammers fans, angry at the club's direction under chairman David Sullivan and vice chair Baroness Karren Brady.

In the 15th minute, to signify the 15 years they have been at the club, numerous fans held up red cards aimed at the pair, while chants of "sack the board" were also heard.

If the Hammers are to extend their 14-season spell in the top flight then Bowen, their top scorer with only five goals, will need to have a strong second half to the campaign - and some attacking help from those around him or new additions.

West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo spoke to BBC Match of the Day after his side's defeat by Fulham: "It [the goal] comes after some chances we had in the second half, we have been punished by a mistake and we lose the game.

"Everybody cares, it's not about that but about the situation we are in. Everything bad happens to us. You can argue about the justice of the result, but the reality is we lost after what I think was an equal first half, both teams didn't have much.

"Second half - we had the momentum, created situations we should have scored from, and in the end we were punished.

"We have to react, the good part is we play another game in two days time. It's another chance to give back to our fans.

"When you don't score you are never totally comfortable."

Did you know?

• West Ham United have won just 13 points from their 18 Premier League games this season, their fewest at this stage of a league campaign since 2010-11 when they went on to finish bottom of the Premier League (also 13).

• West Ham United are the first team to lose six consecutive London derbies in a Premier League campaign since today's opponents Fulham in 2018-19 (lost all 10).

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on West Ham's performance

What did you make of Fulham's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

West Ham, who have not won in six matches in all competitions are unchanged from the 11 that began the 3-0 loss at Manchester City a week ago.

West Ham XI: Areola, Todibo, Kilman, Magassa, Walker-Peters, Scarles, Potts, Fernandes, Summerville, Paqueta, Bowen

Subs: Hermansen, Earthy, Mavropanos, Rodriguez, Soucek, Kante, Golambeckis, Mayers, Wilson

Fulham also name the same 11 that began the 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Monday. The Cottagers are aiming to secure their third away win in a row.

Fulham XI: Leno, Robinson, Andersen, Cuenca, Tete, Lukic, Berge, Wilson, Smith-Rowe, Kevin, Jimenez

Subs: Lecomte, Castagne, Reed, Diop, Ridgeon, Cairney, King, Traore, Kusi-Asare

There are seven games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Nottingham Forest v Manchester City (12:30)

• Arsenal v Brighton - BBC Radio 5 Live

• Brentford v Bournemouth

• Burnley v Everton

• Liverpool v Wolves - BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• West Ham v Fulham

• Chelsea v Aston Villa (17:30) - BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Arsenal v Brighton" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Chelsea v Aston Villa", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds

West Ham really need a win here. They are staring down the barrel of relegation after taking only two points from their past five games.

Nuno Espirito Santo got a bit of a bounce at the start of November but they have not maintained that form.

There does not seem to be much Christmas cheer at London Stadium at the moment and if they get off to a bad start here, things could turn quite quickly.

Fulham got an important win over Nottingham Forest on Monday, which was enough for them to keep their heads above water in the relegation struggle.

They always seem to pose a goal threat, and I have a feeling they will have something to celebrate here, too.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Matthew Hobbs
BBC Sport journalist

West Ham United aim to end their six-game winless run against in-form Fulham.

BBC Sport examines some of the key themes ahead of Saturday's meeting at London Stadium (15:00 GMT).

Festive failings

The phrase 'too good to go down' is one often used in relation to certain Premier League teams, although West Ham's current run of poor form may mean it is not attributed to the Hammers very often during the festive season.

The east London club's tally of 13 points is their joint-lowest Premier League tally at Christmas, matching the 13 they recorded in 2010-11 – a campaign in which they were relegated after finishing bottom of the table.

So while the West Ham roster boasts players as talented as Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta, they have not won in the Premier League since a 3-2 victory against Burnley on 8 November.

The data suggests that poor results stem from a squad still struggling to adapt to head coach Nuno Espirito Santo's counter-attacking style.

The Hammers have less of the ball on average than under predecessor Graham Potter, but record fewer shots on target and fewer touches in the opposition box, alongside facing a greater number of shots on target themselves.

Nuno is averaging just 0.83 points per game as Hammers boss, the lowest tally of any permanent manager in their Premier League history.

Fulham in form before festive fixtures

Facing in-form Fulham may not be on West Ham's Christmas list given they have lost all five of their Premier League games against fellow London sides this season, conceding 14 goals and scoring just twice.

The Hammers last lost six consecutive league London derbies between April 1996 and January 1997.

Fulham, meanwhile, have been resurgent in recent weeks, winning four of their past six matches.

Only Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa have won more than Fulham's 15 points since the start of November, while the Cottagers have triumphed in their past two away Premier League matches, as many as in their previous 12 fixtures on the road combined.

Striker Raul Jimenez was the match-winner against Nottingham Forest on Monday night. His decisive penalty equalled former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure's perfect record of 11 successful penalties from 11 – the joint best 100% record in the competition's history.

Jimenez also likes playing against West Ham. He has scored six goals against them, his joint best tally against any top-flight club, along with Everton.

West Ham are likely to rival Crystal Palace for the signature of 25-year-old Norway striker Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves in January. (Telegraph, subscription required), external

Meanwhile, the Hammers' 19-year-old winger Luis Guilherme is the subject of interest from Sporting, with the Portuguese side wanting to recruit the Brazilian on loan with an obligation to buy. (Maisfutebol - in Portuguese), external

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Holly Turbutt
Fan contributor

Find more from Holly Turbutt at West Ham Network, external

West Ham have expressed their interest in Manchester United's Joshua Zirkzee but face competition from Roma. Moreover, United are set to delay any decision with their squad stretched by injuries and Africa Cup of Nations departures. (ESPN), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

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Melissa Edwards
BBC Sport journalist

West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Fulham at London Stadium (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Nuno on how his team are treating the festive period: "Training, training and preparing for the matches. It's a busy schedule and we are trying to prepare."

• On the January transfer window, he said: "Now is not really the moment to focus on and speak about it, but the club is working and when the transfer window opens, we can assess it."

• The Hammers have won the majority of their Premier League points since the turn of November (nine out of 13) but Nuno believes they are still pursuing their "primary objective". He said: "We need to improve. Since day one, since I arrived it was clear to me that we need to improve a lot of aspects in our team - defensive and offensive. We are trying and sometimes it works, sometimes we score and sometimes we concede more than we should."

• Nuno continued: "We're still chasing the primary objective of having the clean sheet, being solid and compact. Another test for us."

• West Ham are without Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf as they compete at the Africa Cup of Nations for DR Congo and Senegal respectively. Nuno said: "I was watching the game of Aaron (vs Benin), I think they were leading. At 3pm (vs Botswana) Malick will get involved. I wish them all the best and to stay healthy."

• On Fulham and their season, he said: "[They've been] Good. We saw the game yesterday and they are playing good so, a tough opponent. Like all the games in the Premier League, [it will be] very intense, very demanding and it will require a lot of positive actions from us. Tough opponent ahead."

Follow all of Tuesday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Holly Turbutt
Fan contributor

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham are relying on the January transfer window to save our season and keep us from relegation, meaning pressure is at an all-time high, despite a poor track record when it comes to effective transfers in recent times.

Our biggest priority must be to stop conceding as many goals, with us only keeping one clean sheet this season - ironically against Nuno before he joined the club. This means we need a new centre-back who can fit into our starting XI.

At the other end of the pitch, we need to find a solution to our long-term striker issues, bringing somebody in who can make a difference, while taking the pressure off Callum Wilson to stay fit all season.

When it comes to buying or loaning players, a lot of this will come down to if we're able to attract much top talent in our current position. If that means loans enable us to attract better players who are out of favour at their club, this could be enough to see us through the season and then reassess in the summer.

A big part of having money available to invest will rely on parting ways with fringe players who don't have a role moving forwards, as well as those who can bring in funds. This means Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug, Rodriguez and Irving are the main players who can free up some money.

To allow us to reinvest more, we could explore getting rid of one of our centre-backs, as well as Paqueta, but I'd be cautious to only do this if we know we have already secured suitable replacements.

The hope is that we can bring in replacements for those underperforming in our starting XI and create squad depth that allows us to switch things up mid-game in ways that benefit us.

Find more from Holly Turbutt at West Ham Network, external

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Wolves, Burnley and West Ham are hanging precariously on the bottom branches at Christmas.

As we approach the halfway point of the season, what do the ghosts of Christmas past tell us about the relegation battle?

Only four times in 33 Premier League seasons has the side bottom on Christmas Day survived, with the most recent being Wolves in 2022-23.

But with just two points won and a record 16 points from safety, it would take not just a Christmas miracle but a New Year's, Valentine's and Easter one too for bottom side Wolves to survive once again.

Second-bottom Burnley have a fighting chance because almost half the teams in their position at Christmas have stayed up, although the only time that's happened in the past eight seasons was when Eddie Howe led Newcastle to 11th in 2021-22.

West Ham fans have the most reason to be optimistic as the team in 18th has survived in two out of three seasons on average, most recently Nottingham Forest in 2022-23 and Wolves last time out.

The most likely outcome is that one of West Ham, Burnley and Wolves will stay up as that's happened just over half the time, with two teams surviving in 12 of the previous 33 seasons.

The three teams bottom at Christmas have never all survived, while only four times in Premier League history have all three been relegated, although two of those occurred recently, in 2020-21 and 2023-24.

Read more from Chris on what the bottom three's league position at Christmas means for the relegation battle