West Ham vs Brighton Odds: Soucek among the cards in London

It's almost December which means Premier League football is about to be hitting us from every angle! The midweek domestic fixtures are back and Wednesday is serving us up a treat of six live games on Amazon Prime Video, with one of these being West Ham vs Brighton which kicks off at 7:30pm. We're looking ahead to the match and have picked out a couple of our best bets for it which can hopefully lead to some profitable punting.

Going into this one, both sides are enjoying positive campaigns so far, with only five points separating the pair. The Hammers are sitting in the top four as David Moyes' revival continues on, while a host of draws have seen Graham Potter's Seagulls reside in the top half of the table, currently 9th. Although, Albion are without a win since September, whereas West Ham are looking for a win after two consecutive league defeats.

He may not be having quite the same noticeable impact as last season, but Tomas Soucek is still a vital cog in this West Ham team. While Declan Rice has understandably grabbed the headlines for such an impressive start to the season, Soucek has quietly been going about his business as usual. Here though, Brighton could cause him some problems.

Soucek has accumulated the second highest number of fouls conceded (19) for his club in the 2021/22 campaign - a figure only bettered by Michail Antonio with 20. The breakdown of these over the last five games is pretty significant too, with the midfielder committing three fouls vs Man City, one against Wolves, four away at Anfield, three in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa and two in Nuno Espirito Santo's penultimate game as Tottenham manager.

These stats are quite hefty which make the fact that Soucek has only been booked twice in the opening 13 matches all the more shocking. It is worth mentioning that both of these cautions have come in his last five league appearances.

Brighton have also managed to tally a number of bookings for their opponents over the course of the season, with the three most recent teams to face them all garnering 3+ yellow cards (three for Leeds, three for Villa, four for Newcastle).

For a larger punt, I fancy the match to end as a draw, both teams to score and the most goals to be scored in the second half. This currently pays 12/1 with Bet365 at the time of writing.

The last five meetings between the two have all ended in score draws, with some cracking score lines occurring along the way, including two 2-2s and a 3-3!

Of the 18 goals scored during these five most recent matches between the two, only three of them have been recorded in the first half, with a whopping 15 being scored in the second 45 minutes.

In terms of BTTS this season, West Ham have an 83.3% success rate for it in their home games, with it failing to land in only one game. As for Brighton, both teams have scored in three of their six away matches this term, with two of those ending as a draw.

This exact bet has landed in their five most recent meetings, and I expect the same in this one on Wednesday.