Gross seals Brighton’s first league win of the year

LONDON: Brighton & Hove Albion secured their first Premier League win this year as they beat West Ham United 3-1 thanks to superb strikes from Jose Izquierdo and Pascal Gross in a thrilling game at the Amex Stadium yesterday.

Brighton’s Glenn Murray opened the scoring with his ninth league goal of the season but Javier Hernandez, who said he had wanted to leave the club ahead of the January transfer deadline, equalised before the break after jinking past three defenders. Brighton’s second-half goals were stunning. First Izquierdo rocketed a shot past West Ham keeper Adrian from the edge of the area after 59 minutes and then Gross capped a fine display by scoring from 25 metres in the 75th.

West Ham’s midweek signing from Preston North End, striker Jordan Hugill, came off the bench but Brighton held on to complete their first league double over West Ham and move level with the 12thplaced visitors on 27 points.

Brighton manager Chris Hughton said Izquierdo’s goal was the turning point of the game. “That goal lifted the stadium,” he said. “Whatever goal gets us the lead is important but when it’s as good as that it lifts everyone on the pitch and in the stadium. “If we can put in more performances like this before the end of the season, then we’ll be okay.”

Earlier, substitute Lys Mousset came off the bench to score his first Premier League goal for Bournemouth as they came back from a goal down to beat Stoke City 2-1 in a pulsating Premier League clash at the Vitality Stadium yesterday.

Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri, who had seen a shot cleared off the line by Steve Cook moments earlier, put visitors Stoke in front in the fifth minute, the diminutive winger heading home unmarked from Badou Ndiaye’s cross.

Bournemouth, who hammered Chelsea 3-0 on Wednesday, upped the tempo in the second half and had plenty of chances to score, but it took until the 70th minute for Joshua King to put them back on level terms with a thumping right-foot strike.

Sensing that Stoke’s resistance was wilting after King’s goal, Bournemouth continued to attack and nine minutes later Mousset nodded home Jordon Ibe’s free kick for the simplest of finishes to take all three points. — Reuters