West Ham team news: Veltman and O'Riley return to squad

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A look-ahead to Saturday's game at the London Stadium.

Bruce Talbot

2024-12-19T11:45+00:00

Joel Veltman is back in the squad for Saturday's game against West Ham after missing the last four matches. 📷 by James Boardman.

Team news

At his pre-match press conference Fabian Hurzeler said: "Joel Veltman and Matt O’Riley are back; Adam Webster is back in training. Danny Welbeck is not in the best shape and we’ll have to see from week to week. It’s an issue that can heal fast or also heal slow."

Fabian's thoughts

On not using the absence of experienced players as an excuse: "In the end, it's a chance for the young players to grow. It's a chance to learn. We know that tough periods will come, and at the moment we have not got the easiest situation, but it's a chance for the players and also for me to see what characters we have here in this club.

"So, the message is stick together, try to find solutions, stay positive, try to support each other and show togetherness, because especially in these periods you can be really honest with each other, and you can learn a lot from each other. If everything went perfectly, you wouldn’t learn anything and that's why we see this period as a chance and an opportunity."

On Albion's unbeaten record at the London Stadium: "I'm not the biggest fans of fan of statistics to be honest, so I try to really focus just on preparing the team the best we can, so that we that we have a good match plan, that we are mentally and physically ready for the game."

Fabian Hurzeler speaks to the media ahead of Saturday's game: "If everything went perfectly, you wouldn’t learn anything and that's why we see this period as a chance and opportunity." 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

On West Ham's threats: "I think it's a team with a lot of individual quality. It's a team who can create a lot of chances and I think their last few games were quite positive for them. They showed a good performance against Bournemouth and that's why it will be a big challenge."

On a challenging period in his own coaching career: "It's a new experience for sure. I always want to win. I had a lot of great success so far in my career but I knew that this phase would come and now it's here I can learn a lot. I'm in the right club to experience this because it's a club that's well structured. We have great characters in the team. The team know what to do. The team work hard. They're not pointing the fingers at each other. They try to see the mistakes on their own and then they try to improve. In the end the values of the club - the togetherness - will help bring us out of this period."

WATCH FABIAN'S PRE-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE IN FULL HERE

Match facts

West Ham have won just one of their 14 Premier League meetings with Brighton (D7 L6), picking up a 3-1 victory at the Amex last season.

Albion are unbeaten in all seven of their Premier League away games against West Ham (W2 D5), both the most they’ve faced an opponent on the road without ever losing and the most West Ham have faced an opponent at home without ever winning in the competition.

Having scored in each of their first 13 Premier League meetings with West Ham (27 goals in total), Brighton’s last meeting with the Hammers in the competition finished 0-0.

Albion are winless in their last 10 Premier League away games against London sides (D4 L6), conceding at least twice in all six defeats.

West Ham have picked up ten points in their last five home Premier League matches (W3 D1 L1), as many as they had in their previous 11 games at the London Stadium (W2 D4 L5).

Brighton have won five of their nine Premier League games against sides starting the day in the top half of the table this season (D2 L2). By contrast, they’ve won just one of their seven games against teams in the bottom half of the table (D4 L2).

Each of West Ham’s last five Premier League goals have come from set pieces (2x corner, 1x direct free kick, 1x free kick, 1x penalty), while this season, only Everton (43% - 6/14) have seen a lower proportion of their goals come from open play than the Hammers (57% - 12/21).

Brighton’s Danny Welbeck has scored more Premier League goals against West Ham than he has versus any other opponent (6), netting three in his last six against them for the Seagulls.

Only Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye (82) has made more dribbles in the Premier League than West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus (76). His 7.6 dribbles per 90 minutes this season is the second-most by a Hammers player in a season on record (2003-04 onwards), behind Kudus himself last season (7.8).

Jarrod Bowen has been involved in 11 goals in his last 14 Premier League appearances at the London Stadium for West Ham United (7 goals, 4 assists). In total, Bowen has the most goals and assists combined at a venue for the Hammers (34 goals, 17 assists at London Stadium), one ahead of Paolo Di Canio at Upton Park (31 goals, 19 assists).

Match officials