Preview: Albion take on West Ham United in the WSL

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Our third game of the season at the Amex takes place on Saturday.

Bruce Talbot

2026-10-24T11:00+01:00

Marisa Olislagers in the thick of things as Albion prepare for Saturday's match. 📷Paul Hazlewood.

Albion return to the Amex on Saturday to take on West Ham in the WSL, kick off 5.15pm.

Team news

Moeka Minami, Madison Haley and Charlie Rule remain out through injury but Lia Walti, who missed last week’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester City, could return against the Hammers.

Arturo Ruiz’s pre-match thoughts

“We all know we haven’t got the points we want, but now I think we have clarity on the way we play and what we need now is to enjoy three points with our fans in our stadium on Saturday.

“We are working the best way we can and moving in the right direction. We trust in what we believe. I’m enjoying the WSL a lot. I agree it’s one of the best leagues in the world - the level of the teams is incredible and in a short time I’m sure I will have adapted 100% to the league.”

Facts and stats

Albion lost their first two WSL home games against West Ham United but have since won five of six home meetings with the Hammers in the top-flight (L1).

West Ham United were 3-2 winners when they last met in February 2026 and could win back-to-back WSL games against the Seagulls for the first time since January 2020.

Albion have scored seven goals across their last two league games, more than across their seven prior (6) - the Seagulls could score 2+ goals in three consecutive WSL matches in the same season for the first time.

West Ham have won four of their nine WSL away games in 2026 (LS), as many away victories as they managed across 2023 (2), 2024 (1) and 2025 (1) combined. Only in 2022 have the Hammers won five times on the road in the Women's Super League in a calendar year.

Seven of the 10 league goals Brighton have conceded in the WSL this season have come in the opening 30 minutes, the most of any side. Meanwhile, only Everton (17%) and Manchester City (25%) have conceded a lower share of their total goals against this season in the second half than the Seagulls (30%).

This is the first season in which West Ham United have won two of their opening six league games since 2022-23 (3), and the Hammers could equal their best points return seven games into a WSL campaign alongside 2021-22 and the aforementioned 2022-23 season (9 in both).

Albion have scored the joint-most goals from set-pieces (excluding pens) in the WSL this season (4, level with Manchester City), while only Charlton (5) have conceded more goals in that manner than West Ham United (4).

West Ham have won 20 points from their 17 league games under Rita Guarino (W6 D2 L9), giving the Italian the best points per game rate of any permanent West Ham United manager in the WSL (1.2).

Fran Kirby has a goal and an assist across her last two league games, last recording a goal involvement in three straight WSL games in September 2022 with Chelsea, a run that ended with a goal against West Ham United.

Eight of Kelly Gago's 10 WSL goals have either put her team in the lead (6) or drawn them level with their opponents (2) - since she joined the league in 2025, only Oliva Smith (82% - 9/11) has seen a larger share of her goals be a leveller or go-ahead goal among those to score 10+ goals.