UNLUCKY THIRTEENTH
Brighton 1 West Ham 3
To be facing Brighton and Hove Albion for any fixture in the last eleven years, has meant only one thing for West Ham United. A point at best. So a thirteenth top flight game wasn’t ever going to be unlucky for them. When it comes to facing Brighton in the Premier League, they have never had any luck.
So after somehow beating Chelsea with only ten men, the news that Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has refused David Moyes a pre-match request to start the game with fifteen players, promotes pessimistic groans around the terraces.
However, early runs from Bowen and Antonio raise the speckles on the back of many a freckled fan’s neck, and when Antonio holds off his marker down the left channel after being freed there by Ward Prowse, his return pass picks out the midfielder, whose run has put him in the perfect position to gather the ball, beat the remaining defender and slot the loose ball home. An unlikely but welcome lead inside twenty minutes.
Whilst Areola doesn’t command the reputational respect that Fabianski does, he seems to have quickly taken on the responsibilities and area command of a first choice premier league goalkeeper. He is called into action several times in the first half, but never looks likely to concede.
West Ham played Brighton in their final away game of the 2021-22 season, needing a win for Europa League qualification, and on that afternoon also went in at half time a goal up. So no one is getting too excited. Yet.
Within a quarter of an hour of the restart it’s two. The ball from Saïd Benrahma that finds Bowen, who has made a fifty yard sprint to reach it, is almost as sublime as the three touches it takes Bowen to deposit it in the far corner of the net beyond Bart Verbruggen.
As good a goal as you are likely to see this side of Christmas. Even as I write this I am predicting that Brighton, who have had 78% possession in this game thus far, will chalk up three late goals to nab the points.
But what’s this, just five minutes later? Another piece of muscle work in the area and Antonio outruns Aaron Webster before hitting a neat power drive into the bottom corner.
He is in the right position just a few minutes later to make it four, but this time his shot is blocked by a grateful Verbruggen.
At the other end, Areola is proving adept and aware, keeping out shots and headers from the frustrated Brighton front line, that Fabianski must be watching with a combination of admiration and frustration. Areola is eventually beaten by Pascal Gross’ cross cum shot nine minutes from time through a crowd of players who have unwittingly unsighted him.
And there it is. At the thirteen time of trying in the Premier League, West Ham United have finally beaten Brighton and Hove Albion, preserving their unbeaten start to the season and their place at the top of the table.
13 Alphonse Areola, 33 Emerson, 4 Kurt Zouma (captain), 5 Vladimir Coufal, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 7 James Ward Prowse, 11 Lucas Paquetá, 28 Tomas Souček, 22 Saïd Benrahma,, 20 Jarrod Bowen, 9 Michail Antonio
Substitutes: 19 Edison Álvarez, 8 Pablo Fornals, 18 Danny Ings
Goalscorers: James Ward Prowse, Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio
