West Ham 1-1 Brighton: Haters quiet as Maupay tops the ratings
The great Taylor Swift once said that the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Neal Maupay has had his fair share of detractors in recent weeks but they were silenced as the French striker topped the player ratings for Brighton in their 1-1 draw at West Ham.
Maupay rescued the Albion their point with a beautiful overhead kick in the 89th minute for his fifth of the Premier League season. It is a strike which will surely feature highly in our WAB Goal of the Season Award come May.
Whether Maupay would have finished top of the ratings had he not conjured up that moment of magic is up for debate. He had missed an easy chance from eight yards out inside the opening four minutes, causing a sense amongst the traveling Albion support of “Here we go again.”
That feeling lasted right up until the final minute of normal time when the equaliser arrived, leading to bedlam in the away section. This might have been a ninth successive game without a win this, but the euphoria at the end made it feel like a victory.
Maupay was responsible for that, alongside Tariq Lamptey who also picked up a big score despite only being on the pitch for 20 minutes.
Here are your West Ham 1-1 Brighton player ratings.
Robert Sanchez – 6.08
The sort of mixed bag performance that his understudy Jason Steele excels in. Looked like he was pissed for the first hour, flapping at a corner when West Ham took the lead and then being bailed out by VAR when repeating the flap in the second half. He then made three outstanding saves in the final 30 minutes which went a long way towards earning the point.
Joel Veltman – 5.92
By his normal consistent standards, this was a bit of an under par performance summed up when he uncharacteristically ran the ball out of play when Brighton were in a prominent position in the first half.
Adam Webster – 5.83
Pulled up with a very obvious calf problem which, given his history of facing significant spells on the sidelines, should have been a red flag for Graham Potter to haul him then and there. Tried to play through the pain but was soon withdrawn. Hopefully, attempting to continue has not caused further damage.
Lewis Dunk – 6.42
Ducked out the way of the corner from which Tomas Soucek headed West Ham in front. He should have done much better with a free header from an Albion corner midway through the first half which he put off target. Not his best game.
Marc Cucurella – 7.25
Strong going forward and dealt reasonably well with the lively Jarrod Bowen. Did well to react to block a Kurt Zouma effort on the line right at the death when Brighton failed to deal with another West Ham corner.
Yves Bissouma – 7.42
Back to his usual industrious self after a quieter game against The Leeds United. That Declan Rice could not influence proceedings too much was testament to the work that Bissouma did in the engine room.
Adam Lallana – 6.67
Made keeping the ball look effortless at times, especially when Brighton were busy record 80 percent possession at one point in the first half. His shooting remains a source of frustration and he should have at least put a good second half effort on target.
Jeremy Sarmiento – 5.50
Cruel that he only lasted 10 minutes of his Premier League debut before injury struck and he has already been ruled out of Saturday’s trip to Southampton. Looked lively on the ball and pressed aggressively in his short time on the pitch.
Jakub Moder – 6.33
Covered every blade of grass in a slightly more advanced, central role than we have seen him in before. Did something which not many other Brighton players managed when getting a shot on target which was kept out by his Poland international side teammate Lukasz Fabianski.
Leandro Trossard – 6.58
West Ham had done their homework and did their best to nullify the threat he poses as Brighton’s most creative player. It says much about his ability that he was still able to conjure up space on a number of occasions, including when teeing up Lallana for that glorious second half opportunity.
NEAL MAUPAY – 7.58
Top of the West Ham 1-1 Brighton player ratings for that goal, as already discussed. You could see how much it meant with celebrations that earned him a booking. Aside from the finish, it was a hard working performance.
Solly March – 6.25
Got the best part of 80 minutes after replacing the injured Sarmiento. A couple of lively runs and had a good second half effort deflected over for a corner.
Shane Duffy – 6.50
The defence tightened up markedly once he took over from the injured Webster, so it is not a surprise to see him as the highest scoring defender in the West Ham 1-1 Brighton ratings.
Tariq Lamptey – 7.25
How many other Premier League teams make a straight swap at right back to try and get them back into the game? It worked as he delivered the cross for Maupay to spectacularly convert.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
