Match Review: Brighton 1-0 West Ham United
Can we play you every week? That’s a question both Brighton and Hove Albion and Glenn Murray will want to ask West Ham United after their latest win over the Hammers.
For the Albion, the 1-0 victory made it three victories from three meetings with West Ham since their promotion to the Premier League. For Murray, his first half strike was the sixth time he has netted against West Ham in his career – twice more than against any other opponent.
Say what you like about Sky’s meddling with the fixture list, but there is something special about Friday night games at the Amex. Beers in town on a glorious sunny afternoon, football in the evening to kick start the weekend and then more beer after. Maybe we should add “Can we play on Friday night every week” to that opening question.
It looked like Chris Hughton might have been hitting the pubs early judging by his team selection. Out went the three central midfielders we’ve become accustomed to and in came three wingers. Anthony Knockaert was out on the right, Alireza Jahanbakhsh on the left for his first start since his record breaking transfer from AZ Alkmaar and Solly March just behind Murray in the number 10 role.
Despite having so many wide men on the pitch, the cross that led to the goal actually game from Beram Kayal. This was Kayal’s first game at the Amex since penning a new contract and he reminded everyone of the qualities he can offer when called upon with a brilliant performance rounded off with the assist.
It was Kayal’s industry that won possession for the Albion in the first place and a quick exchange of passes later saw him end up with the ball on the left, from where he delivered a low cross that was shrewdly finished by Murray.
While a lot of players might have blasted the ball when found unmarked in the middle of the penalty area, Murray used all his experience to stroke it past Lukasz Fabianski for his 99th goal for the Albion. He now sits tied with Kit Napier as the club’s record goalscorer in post war football. One more and he will statistically be the best striker Brighton have had since 1945.
West Ham belatedly came into the game after that, which meant it was a very good time for the Albion to rediscover the defensive form that last season’s successful battle against relegation was based upon.
Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy, who had both signed new five year deals before the game, led the way in that regard. They made five blocks and five clearances each while Maty Ryan behind them had to be alert to pull off four saves. 38-year-old Bruno looked like he might actually need gas and air at one point such was the effort he was putting in and Gaetan Bong also had a strong showing after a couple of below par performances.
West Ham started the second half quicker than Brett Kavanaugh following a female student up the stairs at a house party and the Albion were dealt a severe blow when Davy Propper limped off with 80 minutes on the clock. Propper was seen leaving the Amex on crutches and losing him for any period of time would be hugely concerning.
How important Propper is to the side was evidenced by what happened when Yves Bissouma replaced him. The Albion were already under huge amounts of pressure and needed positional discipline and sense in order to help manage the final 10 minutes. What they got was Bissouma being dragged all over the place. Talented though he may be, on this showing it wasn’t hard to see why Hughton has been reluctant so far to use him as one of a midfield two.
Two of Bissouma’s fellow substitutes thought they’d combined to make the game safe in the 90th minute. Jose Izquierdo enjoyed a lively cameo and when his shot was parried by Fabianski, Jurgen Locadia was on hand to tap home. Unfortunately for the Dutch figure of fun, he was correctly ruled to be offside.
A second goal would’ve been harsh on West Ham and you couldn’t completely ignore their claims of being worthy of a point. They had 65% of possession, 17 shots and nine corners. Hughton admitted afterwards that we’d rode our luck at times, but any luck was surely earned by the way in which every player put their body on the line for the cause.
Of West Ham’s chances, Marko Arnautovic had five of them and the most glorious fell to Fabian Balbuena but he put his diving header wide with the goal at his mercy.
Perhaps at this point, West Ham realised it wasn’t going to be their night. It was going to be the Albion’s and man of the match Murray’s, as it always seems to be when we meet the Hammers. Can we play you every week?
