Sounds Terrible but not all bad.
A L B I O N R E P O R T - ( iii )
26 AUGUST 2023
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 1 ( Pascal Gross)
WEST HAM UNITED 3 ( James Ward-Prowse) (Jarrod Bowen) ( Michail Antonio)
PREMIER LEAGUE - at the AMERICAN EXPRESS COMMUITY STADIUM, FALMER.
Top of the table Albion entertained UEFA Europa Conference League champions West Ham United in a Premier League encounter at the Amex, "live" in front of the Sky Sports cameras, the game also being broadcast over the airwaves on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Sussex Sport.
The Albion were unbeaten in their twelve meetings with West Ham in the Premier, winning six and drawing six.
Last time out in the Premier the Albion had enjoyed an excellent 4-1 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on the 19 August and for the visit of West Ham, Albion Head Coach Roberto De Zerbi made two changes to his starting line-up from the Wolves game, with Bart Verbruggen surprisingly replacing Jason Steele in goal and Evan Ferguson coming in for the injured Julio Enciso. Goalkeeper Verbruggen (20) signed from Anderlecht for a fee of £16.3 millionin the summer was making his Premier League debut for the Albion.
In their second Premier League outing of the season West Ham had impressively beaten Chelsea 3-1 at home on the 20 August, despite playing the last quarter of the game with 10 men after defender Nayef Aguerd had been sent off.
For their visit to the Amex Manager David Moyes made two changes to his starting line-up from the Chelsea game, with Angelo Ogbonna coming in for the suspended Aguerd and handing a Premier League start to new signing Edson Alvarez who replaced Said Benrahma in midfield.
Last season the Seagulls did the double over the Hammers, winning 2-0 at the London Stadium on the 21 August 2022 and it was 4-0 to the Albion at the Amex on the 4 March 2023, with the goals being scored by Alexis Mac Allister (18m, penalty), Joel Veltman (52m), Kaoru Mitoma (69m) and Danny Welbeck (89m).
Albion's line-up at the Amex on the 4 March 2023 was (4-2-3-1):- Jason Steele; Tariq Lamptey (Joel Veltman 16), Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk (Capt), Pervis Estupinan (Danny Welbeck 76); Pascal Gross, Moises Caicedo; Solly March (Facundo Buonanotte 75), Alexis Mac Allister, Kaoru Mitoma (Julio Enciso 83); Evan Ferguson (Jeremy Sarmiento 83). Subs not used: Robert Sanchez (G/K), Jan Paul Van Hecke, Billy Gilmour, Deniz Undav.
First real chance of the game fell to the Albion when a superb pass by Pascal Gross found Pervis Estupinan on the left whose pass found Billy Gilmour on the edge of the visitors' penalty area but the midfielder's well-struck right-foot shot missed the target by a whisker.
The Amex was silenced on 19 minutes when Michail Antonio chased a speculative pass forward but the covering Adam Webster made a hash of a back-pass to debutant Albion keeper Bart Verbruggen which enabled Antonio a free run on goal before finding James Ward-Prowse who netted from close-in. 0-1.
Albion responded immediately as Evan Ferguson's well-struck shot was held by West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola and Gilmour was unfortunate to see his volley on goal blocked by a last-ditch intervention by a West Ham defender.
On 39 minutes the Hammers lost the services of midfielder Tomas Socek to a concussion injury, Said Benrahma substituting. The Seagulls didnt deserve to be trailing at the interval but they were. Half-time 0-1.
Alphonse Ariola - West Ham Goal Keeper.
Within a minute of the re-start the Albion came close to equalising when keeper Areola made an excellent save to keep out a well-directed header by Ferguson from Kaoru Mitoma's pinpoint centre.
The game was then turned on its' head with two West Ham goals in the space of five minutes. On 58 minutes substitute Said Benrahma's precise pass from the left found Jarrod Bowen on the right who controlled the ball and swept the ball home off the post to increase Hammers lead. 0-2.
Five minutes later it was game over as a swift counter saw Ward-Prowse's fine through-ball find the on-running Antonio who left Webster in his wake before slotting a low shot past the exposed Verbruggen in the Albion goal. Game over, Albion had been sucker-punched by the clinical Hammers.0-3.
To their credit, the Albion kept playing their game and were rewarded with a goal on 81 minutes when Gross fired home a right-foot shot from 20 yards out. It was the German's 27th Premier League goal and which made him Albion's top scorer in the Premier. 1-3.
There was still time for keeper Areola to make two more outstanding saves in keeping out goal-bound efforts from substitute Joel Veltman and Ferguson.
Final-score 1-3.
Match stats:
Albion had 25 attempts at goal, with 10 on target and won 17 corners, free-kicks conceded -10.
West Ham had 12 attempts at goal, with 7 on target and won 4 corners, free-kicks conceded - 9.
VERDICT - West Ham did a job on the Albion, scoring three preventable goals and their goalkeeper Alphonse Areola made a string of outstanding saves to keep his team in the contest. The authority of the departed Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo was also missed in the middle of the park. Debutant keeper Bart Verbruggen had no chance with any of the goals conceded.
With their win, West Ham took over from Albion at the top of the Premier but their supremacy was short-lived as Manchester City took over top spot on Sunday 27 August, following their 2-1 win at Sheffield United.
Albion at the end of round three of games dropped down to 6th in the Premier.
Albion line-up (4-2-3-1):- Bart Verbruggen; James Milner (Joel Veltman 72), Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk (Capt), Pervis Estupinan; Pascal Gross, Billy Gilmour (Adam Lallana 60); Solly March (Simon Adringa 72), Danny Welbeck (Joao Pedro 60), Kaoru Mitoma; Evan Ferguson.
Subs not used: Jason Steele (G/K), Igor Julio, Jan Paul Van Hecke, Mahmoud Dahoud, Facundo Buonanotte.
West Ham United (4-1-4-1):- Alphonse Areola; Vladimir Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Angelo Ogbonna, Emerson Palmieri; Edson Alvarez (Pablo Fornals 84); Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek (Said Benrahma 39), James Ward-Prowse, Lucas Paqueta (Danny Ings 85); Michail Antonio (Thilo Kehrer 79).
Subs not used: Lukasz Fabianski (G/K), Ben Johnson, Aaron Cresswell, Maxwel Cornet, Divin Mubama.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Greater Manchester). Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick, Adrian Holmes. Fourth Official: Sam Allison. VAR Official: David Coote.
Yellow Cards: Albion: 1 - Kaoru Mitoma. West Ham: 3 - Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Thilo Kehrer.
Possession: Albion - 78%. West Ham - 22%.
BBC Sport Player of the Match: James Ward-Prowse (West Ham).
Attendance: 31508.
NEXT GAME:
2 SEPTEMBER 2023 - NEWCASTLE UNITED - home - Premier League
kick-off 17.30. "Live" on Sky Sports.
ALBION 5-YEAR FLASHBACK - 5 October 2018 - Premier League - Amex -
Albion 1 (Glenn Murray 1 - 25 minutes) West Ham United 0.
Albion line-up (4-4-1-1):- Mathew Ryan; Bruno Saltor (Capt), Shane Duffy, Lewis Dunk, Gaetan Bong; Anthony Knockaert , Beram Kayal, Davy Propper (Yves Bissouma 81), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Jose Izquierdo 71); Solly March (Jurgen Locadia 86); Glenn Murray.
Subs not used: David Button (G/K), Leon Balogun,Bernardo, Florin Andone.
Manager: Chris Hughton.
West Ham United line-up (4-1-4-1:- Lukasz Fabianski; Pablo Zabaleta, FabianBalbuena, Issa Diop, Arthur Masuaka; Declan Rice; Andriy Yarmolenko (Lucas Perez 70), Mark Noble (Capt) (Robert Snodgrass 83), Pedro Obiang (Michail Antonio 60), Felipe Anderson; Marko Arnautovic.
Subs not used: Adrian (G/K), Ryan Fredericks, Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna. Manager: Manuel Pellegrini.
Albion Player of the Match: Beram Kayal. Attendance: 30544.
Jack Kaye.