Moyes’ nightmare drags on as Brighton inflict more misery
A wretched week for West Ham United, who collapsed to a repeat of October’s nightmare defeat to the same opponents. Knocked out of the FA Cup at Wigan Athletic – with Arthur Masuaku banned for spitting there – held at home by Crystal Palace, a transfer deadline day to forget and forced to sack director of recruitment Tony Henry for comments about African players, their misery was compounded when they were sucked back into a Premier League relegation battle.
But there has not been a better day for Brighton & Hove Albion since their 3-0 win at the London Stadium as they finally scored three times in a game again to move level on points and goal difference with their opponents and ease their own fears of the drop.
How West Ham must wish they could be rid of Glenn Murray and Jose Izquierdo as easily as Henry, with October’s nemeses tormenting them once more with one strike a goal-ofthe-season contender.
Murray took less than eight minutes to net his third goal this term against these opponents, his fifth already in 2018 and his third in three games following his arrest in connection with a suspected tax fraud. Referee Roger East played a good advantage when Aaron Cresswell cut down Anthony Knockaert. The loose ball fell to Pascal Gross, who threaded it through to Murray, who coolly tucked his finish under Adrian.
West Ham, though, crafted a superb equaliser on the half-hour mark, Javier Hernandez starting and finishing a quick-quick-slow move involving lightning exchanges between Mark Noble and Joao Mario before the Mexican made space to rifle the ball into the roof of the net. After a quiet start to the second half, West Ham’s capitulation was kickstarted by a wonder goal from Izquierdo. A corner found its way to the Colombian on the corner of the area and he bent a quite magnificent right-foot shot into the top left-hand corner of Adrian’s goal.
After heading over a Ezequiel Schelotto cross and dragging another effort wide, Gross then made it third time lucky, cutting inside from Davy Propper’s pass and drilling past Adrian.
West Ham manager David Moyes said his team had been the architects of their own downfall. He added: “We’re going to have to win a lot more games to stay up, but so will other teams.”
Opposite number Chris Hughton, proclaimed Brighton’s second-half display as good as any this season, and said: “It will be the teams that can get the three-pointers that manage to get away from that bottom three.”