Photograph: Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Full-time: West Ham 0-3 Brighton
Chris Hughton’s team have their first away win of the season, and Slaven Bilic has a big problem. Brighton were well-drilled and fully committed, while the hosts looked the opposite: disjointed, flat and error-prone. The final whistle brings vigorous boos from the home fans who have remained. In a new feature that I might not bother ever repeating, here are the player ratings:
West Ham: Hart 3; Zabaleta 3, Reid 5, Fonte 4, Masuaku 3; Obiang 3, Kouyaté 3; Antonio 4, Lanzini 5, Arnautovic 2; Hernandez 4
Brighton: Ryan 6; Bruno 7, Dunk 8, Duffy 8, Bong 7; Knockaert 7, Stephens 7, Propper 7, Izquierdo 8; Gross 7; Murray 8
Updated
90 min: “This game has my predictor this week off to an hilariously wrong start,” chirps JR in Illinois. “It doesn’t affect my fantasy team, though. Unfortunately that is already banjaxed.” Mine, by contrast, is in rude health, and I am now grateful that Creswell hasn’t played here. Best decision Bilic has made.
89 min: Masuaku puts in perhaps his first good cross of the night. Dunk heads clear. If it’s not Duffy, it’s Dunk. West Ham have just been disorderly.
86 min: There is absolutely no sign of West Ham even pretending they believe in a comeback. They lob in crosses as if going through the motions. Duffy and Dunk could not have wished for more obliging hosts.
Brighton substitution: Schelotto on, Knockaert off.
84 min: Zabaleta floats over a decent cross - a rarity from the hosts tonight - but Ayew failed to guide his header on target. It was as if he was taken by surprise by the accuracy of the delivery.
82 min: Damningly for Bilic, this West Ham team does not look managed. There’s no obvious method or spirit. Chris Hughton, meanwhile, can be proud of how his side have played.
Updated
80 min: March bangs a shot into the side-netting from the edge of the area. West Ham are a slovenly shower and could yet concede even more.
78 min: The Sky cameras are showing home fans streaming out of the ground. And according to Jamie Carragher there is also a bit of “trouble” in the stands. It’s not coming from the away end, where Brighton fans are signing and dancing.
Brighton substitution: Brown on, Gross off
GOAL! West Ham 0-3 Brighton (Murray pen 75)
Murray sends Hart the wrong way and strokes a low shot into the middle of the goal. Cue that torrent of boos from the home fans.
Updated
Penalty to Brighton!
Zabaleta clunks into Murray at the back post to concede an obvious spotkick.
West Ham substitution: Arnautovic off, Fernandes on.
74 min: Lanzini gives the ball away to Knockaert in midfield and then tries and fails to bring the Frenchman down. Knockaert carries on his run and tees up Murray with a cute reverse pass. Hart rushes out to block the striker’s shot.
71 min: The only good thing about this performance by West Ham is that it has been soporific enough to put most of their fans to sleep. Otherwise there’d have been a torrent of boos by now rather than the smattering we’ve heard so far. With 19 minutes to go, it’s safe to say the disjointed home side will get zero points from this match.
Brighton substitution: March on, Izquierdo off.
68 min: A strong run by Antonio takes him from the right-hand touchline into the box. But Bong eventually catches up with him and pokes the ball out for a corner. Duffy clears the out-swinger.
67 min: More simple keep-ball by Brighton. They’ve played well, but West Ham have made it amazingly easy for them at times.
65 min: Another freekick to West Ham, in a similar position to the one Lanzini hit a moment ago. This time his shot takes a nick off the wall and curls just wide!
@Paul_Doyle How the mighty have fallen, eh? Still remember Arnautovic tearing it up at Stoke before he moved to a 'bigger club'.
— Rick ™ (@RickterScale_) October 20, 2017
64 min: Freekick to West Ham about 30 yards out and central. Lanzini has a shot. It will land some time tomorrow.
62 min: Another diabolical cross by West Ham - this time from Antonio - elicits more scorn from the crowd.
59 min: Brighton fans are amusing themselves by chanting olé as their team knocks the ball around very easily. The home fans’ grumbles, meanwhile, are turning to boos.
57 min: Still no sign of inspiration from West Ham. It seems only a matter of time before one of their players gets sent off for daft use of an elbow.
55 min: Arnautovic loses possession deep in his own territory and then commits a dumb foul to concede a freekick. So far today he has been utterly lamentable, in fairness.
53 min: “Matty Ryan had a slow start in the EPL but seems to be picking up the pace now.: how’s he playing so far?” asks Matthew Stephens. The reason I’ve barely mentioned him so far is that he’s had very little to do. I can recall one straight-forward save from the first half. He hasn’t even had to come for any crosses because they’re either been terrible or headed away by Duffy or Dunk.
50 min: It’s still all too predictable from West Ham. There’s no sign of the sort of imagination and precision that will be required to get past the Duffy/Dunk-led defence.
48 min: Zabaleta crosses from the right. but Duffy clears with a diving header. He or Dunk have repelled everything so far. When they have needed to, that is: mostly West Ham’s crossing has been dire, especially from the left (Masuaku and Arnautovic).
47 min: Ayew’s introduction has meant a switch to 4-4-2 for West Ham, as the Ghanaian has gone up top to partner Hernandez. But Brighton have had most of the ball so far in this half.
West Ham substitution: Ayew on, Kouyaté off.
“Is it just me or does Hart seem to get a ‘full hand’ on shots that still end up going in more often than any other keeper?” asks Chris Nemeh. “Maybe I’m being harsh since that one wasn’t quite a full hand, but still. Tell me if I’m an idiot.” Hart make a lot of mistakes, if that’s what you mean. But you might still be an idiot.
West Ham 0-2 Brighton
It’s been a textbook away performance so far by Brighton, who are on course to pick up maximum points on the road for the first time this season. West Ham need to improve massively to salvage something from this game because there’s no way that Brighton are going to start defending as flimsily as the hosts have done so far. West Ham have mostly been adrift, good only in rare spurts. They play like a team who are making things up as they go along. That’s not a good look for Bilic. The goalkeeper should have done much better.
Updated
GOAL! West Ham 0-2 Brighton (Izquierdo 45+2)
Hart makes a fine save to deny Murray after Brighton opened West Ham up easily on the counter-attack. Moments later Brighton attack again, this time through Izquierdo, who jinks past Obiang near the left-hand corner of the box and then curls a super shot into the far corner! Hart, at full-stretch, got a hand to it but failed to push it wide enough.
45 min: Arnautovic cuts in from the left. He pings a low pass to Hernandez, who spins at the edge of the area and aims a low shot towards the far corner. But it whizzes a couple of yards wide.
44 min: Masuaku finds space down the left again. But his cross is again useless. West Ham’s deliveries have been so consistently bad it’s as if the team are mounring the absence of Andy Carroll.
42 min: Cute ball wide from Antonio. But Mazuaku’s lame cross is easily cleared by Propper.
39 min: Zabaleta crosses from the right. It runs all the way through to Hernandez, who controls it about 12 yards from goal and then unleashes a shot. But Duffy hurls himself in front of it like a bodyguard protecting his boss and makes a terrific block!
36 min: Another lovely pass by Gross - what a canny player is proving at Brighton. Knockaert collects Gross’s pull-back and tries to sidestep a defender and get off a shot from 16 yards. But Obiang keeps his eye on the ball and makes a good saving tackle.
35 min: Brighton venture downfield for pretty much the first time since their goal, via a long freekick. It comes to nothing and they soon find themselves filing back into the deep defensive positions. But you certainly wouldn’t exclude the possibility of them scoring on the break, because there’s still a doziness about this West Ham side.
32 min: It’s been a curious performance from Arnautovic so far. He’s spent most of the game out on the left looking like he’s searching for inspiration for a deep poem about the absurdity of human existence.
30 min: Antonio’s cross from the left is cleared. Obiang collets it about 25 out and has a bash for goal. It’s well struck but straight at Ryan, who gets down to hold it comfortably. But the last five minutes have been encouraging for West Ham.
28 min: Nifty work by Lanzini, who’s starting to conjure. After some zippy interplay, he threads a pass through to Arnautovic on the right-hand side of the box. The Austrian rockets a low ball across goal. But Dunk clears again.
27 min: Brighton eventually clear a corner after a fraught skirmish in their box. But Zabaleta sends the ball back in, and Hernandez fires off a shot that is deflected behind for another corner.
26 min: After a bout of pressure that brings the home fans to life, Mazuaku lets fly from 20 yards. It’s deflected out for a corner.
25 min: Antonio barges his way to the byline and then fires in a low cross. Dunk is well positioned to what it clear.
24 min: Zabaleta’s attempted clearance goes straight to Izquierdo. But the crosses is poor so West Ham escape punishment for their latest bout of sloppiness. This has been a woeful performance so far.
21 min: A pause, so that Hernandez and Knockaert can receive treatment after crunching into each other in a challenge for a breaking ball.
Updated
19 min: Antonio nudges the ball beyond Dunk and chases after it down the right. He leaves the full-back panting in his wake. Izquierdo, on the other hand, is faster than Antonio and he gets back to prevent the winger from crossing.
17 min: Lanzini curls over an out-swinging corner. Reid’s header from 16 yards misses the target by several more.
15 min: Brighton really should not be keeping West Ham at bay so easily. Sure, the visitors are well drilled and very hard-working but there’s a lot of creative talent in this West Ham line-up - but very little hint of it in the play so far.
13 min: No sign of a response from West Ham so far. They were bright for about three minutes of this match but now they seem disjointed and bereft of ideas. The fans are not yet abusive, just very quiet.
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Brighton (Murray 10)
What a soft goal to concede! After Obiang conceded a freekick about 15 yards inside his own half, Gross sent a good delivery towards the penalty spot and Murray was allowed to meet it - barely jumping - and nod into the net! Obiang’s shoddy marking made him a culprit twice over.
Updated
6 min: Brighton spent the first couple of minutes defending en masse, but over the last few they have gone forward. Neither side has looked close to incisive so far, however, and the atmosphere is quite flat.
4 min: Knockaert leads a charge from midfield and then slips the ball wide on the right to Murray and dashes into the box to wait for a cross. But it’s deflected behind for a corner Gross pulls a low one back to the edge of the area, where Izquierdo has lost all markers. But the winger blazes a first-time shot over the bar.
2 min: West Ham, as expected, are controlling possession early on. But they’re not making any inroads into a well organised Brighton defence.
1 min: We have kickoff!
Out march the teams! As ever, they are accompanied by West Ham’s anthem, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. Did you know that comes from the 1918 Broadway musical, The Passing Show? Ominously, the first act of that musical was called I Really Can’t Make My Feet Behave ...
“Huddersfield, Brighton, blue and white stripes… you see, I’ve lost my focus already just anticipating this game! Sorry!” apologises Justin Kavanagh ahead of this big clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley.
“Well, I never thought I’d read the words ‘fantasy team’ and Huddersfield or West Ham (at least the current vintage) in the same paragraph so you’ve surprised us already with that preamble, Paul,” gasps Justin Kavanagh. “Let’s hope these two teams do likewise, or else I’m off to check if my neighbour Dave’s paint has dried yet.” Should we deduce from that that Brighton do feature regularly in your fantasy team thoughts? Must say, they’ve tended to be solid but blunt when I’ve seen them. And since you brought up Huddersfield, perhaps you’d like to read this.
Andy Carroll has also given an interview. He’s not playing tonight because he’s suspended after being sent off at Burnley last week for a pair of quickfire elbow-themed challenges right in front of the ref (“It was probably a bit silly what I did”), but he has the following to say about one of his team-mates who is playing, Manuel Lanzini. “He is the best player we have without a shadow of a doubt. He gets in the pockets and creates space. You can give him the ball in any situation and he’ll get out of it and create chances for us.”
West Ham’s co-owner David Sullivan has just given an interesting interview to Gary Neville on Sky. Here are the highlights:
“We’ve had a slightly sticky start but with eight points form the last five games so if we win tonight we can start to look up the table rather than down. Our team is good enough to be higher up.
Asked why he has kept faith with Bilic despite calls for the manager’s head, he says: “I believe in morality, I believe in what’s right and if you sign a contract you then desperately want to honour that contract unless things are desperate. If you sign a three contract, you’re entitled to that time. At the moment the players are better than the team but in the first year under Slaven, the team was better than the players. He doest quite know what his best team is, he hasn’t quite go to the bottom of it but when he does, we’ll be very hard to beat.“
Preamble
Firstly, commiserations to those of you who, like me, forgot about this game and so missed the cut-off points for making changes to your fantasy league teams. That puts a downer on the weekend straight away, so let’s hope for a barnstorming contest to rouse your spirits. Brighton tend not to be a particularly thrilling side to watch but maybe this will be the game where Knockaert really introduces himself to the Premier League? West Ham, meanwhile, have gone for an encouragingly attacking line-up (despite the omission of Cresswell in a further blow to my fantasy team).
Teams
West Ham: Hart; Zabaleta, Reid, Fonte, Masuaku; Obiang, Kouyaté; Antonio, Lanzini, Arnautovic; Hernandez
Subs: Adrian, Byram, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Fernandes, Ayew
Brighton: Ryan; Bruno, Dunk, Duffy, Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, Izquierdo; Gross; Murray
Subs: Krul, Goldson March, Schelotto, Suttner. Brown. Molumby
Referee: M Atkinson
Updated
