The post-Christmas Premier League card is completed on Thursday night with North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham in action.
Tottenham are taken to win at Brighton in the teatime game from the Amex Stadium, before West Ham are tipped to frustrate Arsenal at The Emirates Stadium later on.
- Tottenham to win at Brighton
- West Ham +1.5 Asian handicap at Arsenal
Brighton vs Tottenham
Tottenham enjoyed a relaxing Christmas after three straight wins and they can take that confidence down to Sussex by notching a fourth consecutive success at Brighton.
Ange Postecoglou’s bright and breezy side head south on the back of a run featuring a 4-1 drubbing of Newcastle, a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest and a 2-1 success against Everton.
The latter was tough given how much Everton have improved, but Spurs got the job done, showing a backbone that hasn’t always been there.
Spurs did the double over Albion last season and have won on their last two trips to the Amex, so should be rightly bullish of extending their dominance over the Seagulls.
Postecoglou will have Destiny Udogie back from suspension, while he will be looking to his electric front four of Kulusevski, Johnson, Son and Richarlison to open up a Brighton backline which does get exposed.
Brighton, who have spent the first half of the season juggling Europa and Premier League commitments, look pretty spent with goals and wins drying up - they have won just two of their last 12 in the league.
Albion have been hit by an injury to Japan winger Kauro Mitoma, not the type of blow which will change Roberto De Zerbi’s approach, but he is a weapon who will be sorely missed.
Arsenal vs West Ham
Expect seasonal jollity to be thin on the ground at The Emirates as London rivals Arsenal and West Ham get down to the serious business of a Thursday night Premier League scrap.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners head into the showdown knowing they will return to the top of the table with a win.
But the Hammers are proving a seriously tough nut to crack this term under David Moyes, whose team could finish the year in the top six.
Over the last few weeks the Hammers have won 2-1 at Tottenham and beaten Manchester United 2-0, performances of immense discipline, a share of luck (certainly at Spurs) and a resilience that marks them down as a tough team to beat.
Very occasionally they get it wrong - such as the 5-0 humbling at Fulham - but by and large this is a team who are set up to be hard to break down and in the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen boast threats going forward who will trouble the top teams.
Arsenal have had five days to recover from a tough work-out at Liverpool where they drew 1-1 and this promises to be another tight encounter, with West Ham preferred on the handicap.
