Trust West Ham’s defence to squander the day. Twice Nuno Espirito Santo’s side led and and twice they coughed it up. You can’t afford to do this in a relegation battle.
The Hammers, who twice gave away penalties and scored one of their own, spurned a huge chance to close the gap on Nottingham Forest to two points with Sean Dyche’s side the next to visit the London Stadium.
IS JARROD HAMMERS ONLY HOPE?
One of the last remaining bastions of survival hopes that West Ham can still cling is that they still have genuine match winners among their midst. None more so than Jarrod Bowen.
West Ham had barely touched the ball when Brighton failed to clear Alphonse Areola’s long ball and suddenly Lucas Paqueta had played in Bowen, just like he did in the Conference League final and the hosts were in front.
As always, so much of West Ham’s threat came through Bowen as he linked up well with Callum Wilson.
How many more times will the Hammers’ captain have to go to the well to save his side?
Jarrod Bowen opened the scoring for West Ham, continuing his fine form against Brighton
Danny Welbeck scored his first penalty before then chipping his second on to the crossbar
CAN ANYONE FIX THIS DEFENCE?
When your defence is as bad as West Ham’s, not often enough. Few sides in the Premier League have such an insatiable appetite for self-destruction.
In the space of three first-half minutes, they gave away two penalties – first as Max Kilman dived in and brought down Yankuba Minteh, the second when Paqueta thought it a good idea to rugby tackle Lewis Dunk, a man twice his size, inside his own box.
Welbeck buried the first but, thankfully for Paqueta, dinked his second against the crossbar.
No wonder Nuno Espirito Santo is so keen to bolster his defence in January.
HURZELER PLUMPS FOR EXPERIENCE
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler turned to old heads to end a run of five games without a win. Welbeck was back in the line-up while Joel Veltman and James Milner, who turns 40, this weekend made their first starts since September.
While Milner struggled, it was Veltman who grabbed the point for Brighton on the hour when Areola flapped a corner straight into his unmarked path for a tap in two yards out.
Areola was at least on hand to save later efforts from Ferdi Kadioglu and Kaoru Mitoma, though West Ham are still to beat Brighton in nine home Premier League matches.
TWO SIDES TO PAQUETA
Paqueta is so infuriating for West Ham fans watching their side in a relegation scrap. At his best, he can bend games to his will but, at his worst, is a complete liability. The Brazilian flickered between the two here.
Lucas Paqueta again was a frustrating watch for fans – from a match winner to a liability
Splitting passes, rugby tackles and then the composure to roll a penalty of his own into the corner after after VAR adjudged Dunk of handling Callum Wilson’s shot.
When Wilson went off on the hour, his removal booed vociferously by the home fans, Paqueta went up front but had little influence on the rest of the game only to spark a Brighton counter after giving the ball away and failing to track back as he tweaked his back in the process.
