High-flying Brighton comfortably beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium to leave David Moyes’ side without a point or a goal after three Premier League games.
Alexis Mac Allister converted from the penalty spot (22) to give Brighton the lead after West Ham’s new-signing Thilo Kehrer – making his Premier League debut – tripped up Danny Welbeck with a clumsy challenge.
Leandro Trossard secured Brighton’s victory with a cool finish (66) after Pascal Gross’ neat flick around Kurt Zouma to take the Seagulls to seven points from three games.
Brighton have moved up to fifth after facing Manchester United, Newcastle and West Ham, while the Hammers sit bottom of the table and their winless Premier League run against the Seagulls now stretches to 11 games.
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How West Ham came unstuck against Brighton
West Ham found pockets of space down the left in the early stages with Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio, but were unable to test Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. It was the visitors, though, who dictated the play throughout the first half, largely frustrating West Ham.
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The hosts were exposed on the break after Zouma lost possession in the Brighton half. Germany international Kehrer was unable to keep up with Welbeck and caught the Brighton striker with a hopeful sliding challenge to give away the penalty just inside the box.
Video Assistant Referee Lee Mason checked the incident to be sure it was inside the penalty area, before Mac Allister converted with ease from 12 yards, the midfielder waiting for West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to dive, before slotting into the other corner to give Brighton the lead.
West Ham were booed off at the end of the first half, but came out firing in the second. Tomas Soucek’s header came close but was deflected wide, while Pablo Fornals’ tame effort was easily held by Sanchez in the Brighton goal.
Brighton, though, found their footing once again and cut through the West Ham defence with ease just past the hour mark. Mac Allister – who was orchestrating things for Brighton in midfield – picking out Gross, who produced a smart flick to unlock Trossard to fire in the visitors’ second goal.
Soucek was denied twice by Sanchez in quick succession in the final 10 minutes, but West Ham were unable to break down the Brighton defence, even with the introduction of Gianluca Scamacca.
Moyes: Kehrer wasn’t ready to start
West Ham manager blamed the lack of quality when making passes in the final third for the 2-0 defeat to Brighton in the Premier League
West Ham boss David Moyes admits he feared Kehrer would not be ready to start and slept on it before deciding to hand the Germany international his full Premier League debut.
The West Ham boss felt the penalty was a turning point, and Kehrer made an error by going to ground on Welbeck.
“I slept on [whether to start him] overnight because I don’t think he was ready to start the game”, added Moyes. “If you talk about physical wise – and even the boys haven’t had the chance to see how he plays or what he does.
“But I felt that the last couple of games hadn’t gone so well, that we put in someone that is more of a recognised defender.
“I thought he played quite well, but I thought he made the wrong decision to go to ground for the penalty. I thought he should have stayed on his feet. I think if he had, he probably would have seen it out.”
He added: “We got ourselves in the game well enough until the penalty. It was frustrating because we’d had one or two opportunities ourselves and the penalty just took the wind out of us. We went in at half-time at 1-0 and still had a chance and we started the second half well. Then the second goal just took it out of us completely.
“Brighton were the better team. We did some good things that won’t be noticeable today, but there were some things which were positive.”
Potter: No secret to Brighton success, just hard work
Brighton manager Graham Potter says he is not setting any targets for the season after their unbeaten start continued with a 2-0 win over West Ham in the Premier League
Graham Potter praised his Brighton side for producing such an impressive start to the season despite losing key duo Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella in the summer.
“No secret,” said Potter after the game. “If there was, I probably wouldn’t tell you. Just a hard-working team who try their best.
“We’ve had to deal with key players leaving in the summer. We are humble, respectful of the opponent. There are a lot of young players that are going to get better than us.”
He added: “The result is what we’re here for so that’s nice and the performance was quite strong, even though there are things we can improve as well. But overall, to see out some tough periods when we had to, created opportunities, scored two good goals, kept a clean sheet so that’s a lot of pleasing things.”
What’s next for West Ham and Brighton?
West Ham travel to Denmark on Thursday to face Viborg in the second leg of their Europa Conference League play-off, taking a 3-1 advantage into the game. The winner secures passage to the group stage. Moyes’ side then return to Premier League action with a trip to Aston Villa on August 28; kick off at 2pm.
Brighton are also in midweek action as they take on League One side Forest Green Rovers in the Carabao Cup second-round. Graham Potter’s side then host Leeds in the Premier League next Saturday at the Amex; kick-off 3pm.
