Premier League make official decision ahead of Southampton vs West Ham

West Ham United make a Boxing Day trip to the South Coast as they look to make it four unbeaten games in a row. The Hammers drew 1-1 to Brighton in their last game after a Mohammed Kudus equaliser helped Julen Lopetegui’s side to a point at the London Stadium.

It leaves them 14th in the Premier League table and eight points above the relegation zone. Lopetegui’s side have shown signs of improvement recently and now get a trip to bottom-of-the-league Southampton. Reflecting on their draw with Brighton, the West Ham boss said: “We have to highlight the commitment and the behaviour of the players. [They showed those characteristics] until the end. We achieved one point - we wanted three - but we have to look forward to the next challenge.

“We need to try to keep a positive feeling and this is a match that we have not lost. We now have a key [end to the] month as we look to that next challenge. People talk about the classification and say that Brighton is doing very, very well. They have five points more than us and it is not a big difference. I think that the little details are going to help us to increase our level, and improve our position in the classification too.

“We showed a good reaction to their goal. Not only to get the equaliser, but afterwards, we kept this reaction. We had a very good spell. It is true that after that they changed and they recovered against our control. That is why we [made] other changes, and in the last moment, the last part of the match, we had a set-piece situation to score the second goal.”

The Saints recently appointed Ivan Juric as manager following the sacking of Russell Martin which came after they lost 5-0 to Spurs last week. Southampton drew 0-0 to Fulham over the weekend which earnt their first Premier League point since a 1-1 draw to Brighton since the end of November.

Premier League appoints referees ahead of Boxing Day

The Premier League has appointed Lewis Smith as the referee for the game. He will spent the day after as the fourth official for Arsenal’s game against Ipswich on Friday. So far this season, he has officiated three games in the Premier League. He handed out 10 yellow cards and one red card. He has also been referee in the Championship, League One, and League Two this season.

The assistants will be Stuart Burt and Steve Meredith. Burt has been the first official in seven games this season, including two Champions League matches. Meanwhile, Meredith has been an official in eight games this season.

James Linington has been appointed as the fourth official. He refereed in seven Premier League games so far this season, handing out 35 yellow cards, and no red cards.

The VAR is Stuart Attwell, who has refereed 10 Premier League games. He has shown 37 yellow cards this season, and two reds. West Ham have already seen him this season during their 0-0 draw against Everton in November.