Brighton score third successive win over hapless Hammers

West Ham will not have a clue how they didn't win this match and Brighton may be equally baffled how they did

Glen Murray celebrates his opener (Getty)

West Ham will not have a clue how they did not win this match and Brighton may be equally baffled as to how they did. The only explanation from a set of statistics showing West Ham dominating in almost every category is that Manuel Pellegrini’s side could not convert overwhelming territorial superiority into shots on target. Each side managed four but the ageless Glenn Murray’s for Brighton after 24 minutes was the only one which found the net.

Perhaps it was just the usual paralysis that afflicts the Londoners when facing the Seagulls. This was their third successive defeat against Brighton but surely their unluckiest as they maintained the good form they had shown in their three-game unbeaten run without being able to find a goal.

It was only Brighton’s second victory of the season and took them six points clear of the bottom three ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches.

West Ham, unchanged from their 3-1 victory over Manchester United six days earlier, began the match with the confidence that would have been expected from a team in their good recent form. They looked unworried and unimpressed by early shots from Anthony Knockaert and Alireza Jahanbakhsh - Brighton’s record signing - which were both capably dealt with by Lukasz Fabianski.

Murray's winner came after 24 minutes. (Getty)

Their own first effort after 14 minutes was far more spectacular - Marko Arnautovic fiercely volleying Felipe Anderson’s free kick goalwards, the shot deflected wide by Murray on the six-yard line. And Pedro Obiang had a close-range shot blocked by Brighton’s returning captain, Bruno, after his fellow defenders had allowed the ball to drift across goal unchallenged.

At that point, as West Ham’s front three dizzied the Brighton defenders with their movement and passing, it seemed only a matter of time before they took the lead. But Brighton had other ideas. They forced a corner of their own that West Ham cleared only with difficulty, Solly March fired a range-finder just too high, and in the 24^th minute they were ahead.

Beram Kayal, the underrated Israeli midfielder, began the move by winning possession from Yarmolenko and spotted space down the left when the ball came back to him. He produced a left-foot cross worthy of any winger that eluded Issa Diop and found Murray unmarked at the far post to score with a first-time shot from six yards.

West Ham tried to reply before the interval but Mark Noble’s shot was easily gathered by Mathew Ryan and Anderson’s superb pass to Pablo Zabaleta, who had raced in behind Brighton left back Gaetan Bong, deserved better than the eventual attempt at a finish from Obiang whose volley bounced off the Amex turf and dropped an inch or so over the crossbar.

Arnautovic blazed his free-kick at the death over the bar (Getty)

West Ham again looked the more potent side early in the second half, forcing a series of free kicks and corners. Brighton defender Lewis Dunk blocked a shot from Yarmolenko and Kayal was extraordinarily fortunate to escape a card of any colour when his studs made contact with the shin of Arnautovic, who was somehow booked instead by referee Kevin Friend.

Fabian Balbuena got his head to one corner from the left but nodded wide under pressure from Murray, while Anderson shot high from a free kick conceded by Kayal after Anthony Knockaert had squandered possession. Brighton were having trouble keeping the ball with their slender lead constantly under pressure and they could ill afford to waste their few chances as Murray did when heading a corner by Knockaert over the crossbar when unmarked again six yards out.

Most of the time the ball was being played back and forth across the Brighton penalty area with defenders happy to kick anywhere. Mark Noble dribbled to the goal-line as he searched for an opening, the ball eventually hacked clear again. Arnautovic lined up a free kick from 20 yards but curled the ball over the bar and hit the ball even higher when a miss seemed impossible from Lucas Perez’s inviting pass. That just about summed up West Ham’s evening.

Player Ratings

Brighton & Hove Albion: Ryan 6; Bruno 6, Duffy 6, Dunk 6, Bong 6; Knockaert 7, Propper 6 (Bissouma 81), Kayal 7, Jahanbakhsh 5 (Izquierdo 71); March 6 (Locadia 86); Murray 6.

West Ham United: Fabianski 6; Zabaleta 7, Balbuena 7, Diop 6, Masuaku 5; Noble 6 (Snodgrass 83), Rice 7, Obiang 6 (Antonio 60); Anderson 7, Arnautovic 6, Yarmolenko 7 (Perez70).