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Everton: Pickford, Holgate, Mina, Coleman, Godfrey, Doucoure, Davies, Bernard, Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin Subs: Olsen, Lossl, Keane, Tosun, Nkounkou, Rodriguez, Gomes, Gordon, Branthwaite.
West Ham: Fabiański, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Souček, Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals, Haller Subs: Randolph (GK), Johnson, Balbuena, Diop, Noble, Snodgrass, Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Antonio

As David Moyes prepares his team to face the last of the Christmas/New Year fixtures he reflected on how things have gone so far this season, and how he hopes for a continuation of what has been a very bright start despite only picking up 3 points in the last four games recently.

When it comes to supporting West Ham, it can be considered a somewhat tumultuous task and with an uneasy relationship between fans and the board acting as an interesting sub-plot off the pitch, such friction has a habit of affecting what happens on the playing field.

News emerging from Everton's Goodison Park, is that members of staff there have been told there is an extreme likelihood that their Barclays Premiership game, against West Ham scheduled for New Year's Day, will not go ahead due to the exponential increase in the new Covid -19 variant, a development that has seen many games in the top flight cancelled already, the most recent being Fulham's match away to Tottenham at White Hart Lane, which was cancelled just three hours before the kick off.

News that long term Butch the Dog from The Sooty and Sweep show impersonator, Diego Costa, has had his contract with Atletico Madrid terminated by mutual agreement, means that fans up and down the country are screaming out for their clubs to take a serious look at the Ex-Chelsea hitman

Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Stephens, Bednarek, Redmond, Djenepo, Ward-Prowse (c), Romeu, Walcott, Ings, Adams Subs: Forster, Valery, Smallbone, Diallo, Vokins, Salisu, Armstrong, Long, Obafemi
West Ham: Fabianski, Fredericks, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice (c), Soucek, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Fornals, Haller Subs: Randolph, Coufal, Johnson, Diop, Noble, Snodgrass, Benrahma, Bowen, Antonio

No this is not some weird sponsored advertorial, rather an observation regarding the various media platforms Hammers fans are forced to use instead of being able to attend matches in person. Apart from the obvious loss of the camaraderie of being next to fellow fans and their families, many of whom you will have sat next to or near for years, there is the conundrum of how and where to watch in the most rewarding of ways.

In the far fetched cult movie 'Kelly's Heroes' about a spectacular heist behind enemy lines, Donald Sutherland, who plays a 'hippy' maverick tank captain, questions why his co-conspirator Clint Eastwood doesn't "get with the program" and "why the negative vibes man?". Having overseen an impressive start to the season, guiding the club through some appallingly difficult , some say deliberately arranged early fixtures, Hammers manager David Moyes seems to have suffered a 'lack of conviction' in his team selection for recent games.

West Ham: Fabianski, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Coufal, Soucek, Rice, Johnson, Bowen, Noble (c), Haller Subs: Randolph, Fredericks, Dawson, Diop, Snodgrass, Fornals, Lanzini, Benrahma, Yarmolenko
Brighton: Sanchez, White, Webster, Dunk (c), March, Bissouma, Lallana, Burn, Trossard, Maupay, Welbeck Subs: Steele, Bernardo, Veltman, Mac Allister, Gross, Jahanbaksh, Alzate, Propper, Zeqiri

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that Hammers manager David Moyes' patience has run out with the club's record signing, the misfit striker Sebastien Haller. Moyes didn't sign him, and perhaps the player himself would not have opted to move to the London Stadium had Moyes been in charge, either way the situation is a 'fait accompli' that suits neither party.