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West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, Bartley (c), Ajayi, Townsend, Gallagher, Yokuşlu, Maitland-Niles, Pereira, Robson-Kanu, Phillips Subs: Button (GK), Peltier, O’Shea, Gardner-Hickman, King, Robinson, Diang, Diagne, Grant
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice (c), Soucek, Benrahma, Lingard, Fornals, Antonio Subs: Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Johnson, Balbuena, Diop, Noble, Bowen, Yarmolenko, Odubeko

Chelsea's victory over Leicester last night ensured West Ham could no longer qualify for the Champions League, it was not as if it were a surprise is it? This leaves the Europa League as an alternative, however there is every possibility that the dreaded 'Con' Cup might be an end result, or maybe no European competition at all!

Seeing the Liverpool goalkeeper head in their winning goal against the Baggies in the dying seconds of the game will have left many Hammers fans with that 'sinking feeling', and all that after seeing 'Tottingham' go above the Irons on goal difference as well!

Scrapping for a spot in the aptly named 'Europa Con-ference" Cup against Hammers rivals from North London wasn't on the agenda six weeks ago, just ahead of the International games fans were eagerly anticipating the final run in of what could have been the club's most successful season ever.

Jesse Ligard's impact since he arrived at the London Stadium on loan from Manchester United has been nothing short of brilliant, goals, assists, you name it. Such have been his performances that his value has rocketed to the point where it is becoming increasingly unreachable by West Ham.

Brighton: Sánchez, White, Webster, Burn, Moder, Groß (c), Bissouma, Alzate, Jahanbakhsh, Trossard, Welbeck Subs: Steele (GK), Karbownik, Tau, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Lallana, Connolly, Andone, Zeqiri
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice (c), Soucek, Bowen, Lingard, Fornals, Antonio Subs: Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Johnson, Balbuena, Diop, Noble, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Odubeko

Hammers manager David Moyes will be pondering as to just how he is going to do a loaves and fishes with his, what will be immensely meagre, transfer budget. Unfortunately his hands are tied behind his back as a result of the impact Covid -19 has had on football finances, and as a result of his predecessor emptying the cupboard in it's entirety and more some!

News that Galatasary and Besiktas are interested in signing Felipe Anderson from West Ham has been greeted with a mixture of resignation and joy, tempered by the reality that his sale would represent yet another massive financial loss incurred by the club in the fall out of the 'Pellegrini' era.

Hmmm, the last time West Ham had a chance of being near the top of the 'tip' was in 1985, with just a few games to go it seemed the Boys from the Boleyn were about to take their rightly deserved place at the top table, under the guidance of the late and great Jon Lyall.

Not so many people outside of the club were aware of just how close it came to reaching the summit, because there was a TV black out of games due to a dispute between the broadcasters and the FA, so no one got to see any of the games unless they were there in person.

If you cast your eye over the various media reports, you wouldn't be blamed for thinking that West Ham United are the only Barclays Premier League club to be virtually broke, news of a £65 Million loss which is apparently only the tip of the financial iceberg, has been broadcast almost with glee!

Reports are awash that Hammers can't afford to sign on loan star Jesse Lingard permanently, with Manchester United demanding too much money for him, or depending where you read it, that any deal is going to be scuppered by the player's wage demands, and so on.

The Irons must hope Manchester United can somehow do them a huge favour by beating both Leicester on Tuesday and then Liverpool 48 hours later, but why would they want to help 'little old' West Ham break into the 'septic six'?