West Ham steal a point as Brighton dictate play

From needing to prove a point to happy to earn one, West Ham looked second place in just about every aspect of the match and held off Brighton to earn a point away from home. Here’s how it played out.

West Ham were behind the eight-ball to start the match with the team sheet revealing both Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller out with injuries sustained against Manchester City. The injuries are not serious, but with two starters and lynchpins of the offense removed, the Hammers were in tough from the opening whistle.

Chicharito replaced Haller and Snodgrass replaced Anderson, but two more changes were spotted in the starting XI. Arthur Masuaku, who many were crying out for after Cresswell’s poor performance against City drew in, as well as team captain Angelo Ogbonna for Fabian Balbuena. Nothing given to the back four, it appears, as Pellegrini is happy to move his players in and out of the starting positions.

The team set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation and with Declan Rice isolated in the defensive midfield again. The match opened with solid possession from West Ham but no results in the final third. The opening half-hour would see the Hammers hold a 60%-40% possession advantage, an advantage that proved useless with just one attempt made in the first half.

VAR would rescue the Irons as a beautiful finish form Trossard on a ball back across the box was ruled no goal after offside from the original delivery slipped by the linesman’s vision. The first half ended 0-0 but the Hammers were second best in the opening period.

Pablo Fornals was replaced by Michail Antonio to play alongside Chicharito up top, changing the formation to a 4-4-2, leaving Snodgrass in the middle of the pitch and pushing Lanzini out wide on the left side. With two forwards committed to the attack the match opened up with both sides trading chances. Brighton were still looking solid but the Hammers were pushing back.

Haller’s replacement, Javier Hernandez, would get his just deserts as a smooth ball from Lanzini finds a circumnavigating run from the Mexican striker who outsmarts the massive Brighton backline and calmly finishes through Mat Ryan in the 61st minute. 0-1 WHU.

Minutes later poor defensive play from Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop would allow a counterattack to pull them together, then spread them out, creating an opening for Trossard to bend a great finish around Fabianski. Brighton were level in the 65th minute with West Ham contributing to their own demise.

The match would finish level, and two positives can be taken from this match – Michail Antonio changed the complexion of the team and Manuel Lanzini is an extremely talented player. Antonio’s physicality against Brighton’s tall backline opened up opportunity for his teammates, while Lanzini’s dribbling throughout the pitch was crucial and the Hammers.

There is still a lot of work to be done with the team heading into next week matchup against Watford. The back-four is still up for debate as Fredericks and Masuaku struggled at fullback and the central pair were at times shambolic. The attack wasn’t good enough at getting into dangerous areas and taking chances. What we can look forward to is hopefully Haller, Anderson, and Noble all back and ready to impact the first team.