3 hours ago
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So December – the busiest month on the Premier League calendar – comes and goes without a single win for West Ham or Brighton; 12 matches played between them, but only occasional draws to show for their endeavours.
At least this meeting of the winless was not short on entertainment, with two goals apiece in just the Premier League’s second ever game to see three first-half penalties awarded. But the draw – matching the one they shared at the Amex Stadium earlier this month – helps neither team.
For a Brighton side who sat two points off third place heading into December, the bottom half of the table is growing ever more familiar. How Nuno Espírito Santo must be envious of such mid-table mediocrity after eight games without a win for his West Ham team. Nottingham Forest’s defeat against Everton at least means the gap to safety has edged marginally smaller to four points.
Nuno has already labelled the upcoming transfer window as “very important”, explaining that “there are positions where we need to have more options”. Nowhere has that been more acute this season than up front.
Having achieved no more than moderate success deploying Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville as central strikers in recent games – and with Niclas Füllkrug on his way to Milan on loan – Callum Wilson was handed his first start in five games. If Nuno has his way, he might soon also have the services of Jørgen Strand Larsen to call upon, with West Ham preparing their opening offer for the Wolves striker. Whether that extends to his £40m asking price remains to be seen.
There was then a certain irony in Bowen hastily producing the perfect impression of a frontman, slotting calmly past Bart Verbruggen to put the hosts ahead after just 10 minutes when played straight through the middle by Lucas Paquetá. There can be little argument that West Ham – as a team – are not too good to go down this season, but their captain certainly is.
Slow starts on their travels have dogged Brighton all campaign, and Bowen’s goal was the eighth time in nine away matches they have fallen behind before 25 minutes.
But two opportunities to hit back then arrived in quick succession, with Danny Welbeck gifted a couple of penalties within five minutes of each other. The first, awarded for a poor Maximilian Kilman slide tackle on Yankuba Minteh, was dispatched into the bottom corner. Perhaps overeager to change his approach after Paquetá had rugby tackled Lewis Dunk for the second, Welbeck followed up with a Panenka that hit the crossbar.
The flurry of spot-kicks were not yet finished. As the clock ticked into first-half injury time, the referee, Michael Salisbury, was called to the pitchside monitor to view Dunk halt Wilson’s goalbound shot with what was judged to be the upper part of his outstretched arm.
Following a ridiculous, stop-start run-up, Paquetá stroked into the bottom corner to restore West Ham’s lead on the verge of half-time.
No sooner had the second half begun than the goalmouth action in an increasingly bonkers game promptly resumed. The video assistant referee ruled against awarding a fourth penalty of the match when the Brighton substitute Kaoru Mitoma was felled inside the West Ham box. But the visitors restored parity from the resulting corner when Alphonse Areola slapped the ball straight to Joël Veltman, who controlled and volleyed home from close range.
Nuno’s decision to take Wilson off just after the hour was greeted with boos around the London Stadium, as Paquetá was instructed to play as a centre-forward.
The concluding action was primarily played down the other end though, where Areola produced excellent saves to keep out dangerous efforts from Mitoma and Georginio Rutter, and Konstantinos Mavropanos headed away under his own crossbar.
By the final whistle, Jan Paul van Hecke was the only starting Brighton outfielder not to have attempted a shot. But the visitors could not find a winner.
