Scarcely Balebable Result At The Amex

West Ham United may have now guaranteed Premier League safety but they still haven’t won since February 27 after Brighton and Hove Albion produced a late comeback to win 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.

Graham Potter made three changes to the team that drew with already-relegated Southampton last weekend, as Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tomáš Souček and Konstantinos Mavropanos all came into the starting line-up. Vladimír Coufal, Niclas Füllkrug and Carlos Soler were the unlucky trio to miss out and drop to the bench. Evan Ferguson is on loan with the East Londoners from Brighton, meaning he was unable to feature here.

This was a game between two teams who have both suffered alarming losses in form over recent weeks. Coming into this game, the Seagulls were on a five-match losing run, while Potter’s men hadn’t won in six so it was a test of character to see who would get over the line and return to winning ways.

The Hammers had a great chance in the opening minute when Mohammed Kudus ran down the right wing and evaded the attentions of Pervis Estupiñán. The Ghanaian winger sent a high cross in the direction of captain Jarrod Bowen but unfortunately for the visiting skipper, he was unable to get a good enough connection on the ball to be able to head it past Bart Verbruggen in the home side’s goal.

Estupiñán then had a go at goal but in all honesty, the effort was never going to test visiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

Both sides were still in this game but the Hammers were definitely on top by this point and Bowen went ever so close to opening the scoring, only for his shot to be blocked by opposition captain Lewis Dunk.

Bowen’s route to goal may have been blocked, but possession was then picked up by Wan-Bissaka and he crossed for Souček. Unfortunately, the Czech midfielder sent his attempt into the side-netting.

The visitors were then dealt a blow with just thirteen minutes played when Yasin Ayari struck from out of nowhere after receiving possession from Jack Hinshelwood. It was a shot that left Areola helpless!!!

The tempo of the game took a twist with Fabian Hürzeler’s side in the ascendancy but the visitors still had chances as they looked to fashion a quick equaliser. Wan-Bissaka was at the heart of the action again but his shot was charged down by Carlos Baleba.

Lucas Paquetá then had a decent chance but rather than hitting the back of the net with his left-footed effort, he sent the ball over the bar.

Minutes later, Kudus went down in the box under a challenge from Baleba but referee Darren England gave nothing.

Just two minutes after Areola had prevented Matt O’Reilly from extending the Seagulls’ advantage, Souček went even closer when he headed on a cross from Max Kilman However, Verbruggen reacted brilliantly to help the effort onto the crossbar.

The end-to-end nature of this game continued, as Brighton went on the attack. Thankfully though, Mavropanos managed to block a ball from Danny Welbeck, before Solly March wasted a good opportunity. Areola then made a great double save to deny both Estupiñán and Mats Wieffer. West Ham’s French stopper was however powerless to keep out Simon Adingra, as he beat him but thankfully, VAR ruled the attempt out for offside.

The Hammers were trying to push forward but the Seagulls skipper prevented them from doing so with a well-timed sliding tackle to stop Bowen from crossing the ball into the box. Dunk eventually cleared the danger, before Bowen had Kudus to help him but even then, they still couldn’t deal with the home skipper.

Although there were some promising moments in the first-half, the travelling contingent were disappointed with the overall performance and were calling for Füllkrug to be on the pitch. During the break, Potter duly obliged as he introduced the German in place of James Ward-Prowse.

There was no doubt that Füllkrug made a huge difference to West Ham’s play but the hosts started the second-half on the front-foot and had further opportunities. It was to the relief of the Irons though that both of Adingra’s crosses failed to reach Welbeck.

Minutes later, the visitors finally found their equaliser as a great team move involving Wan-Bissaka, Bowen and Kudus ended with the Ghanaian putting the ball through the legs of Verbruggen and into the net. With that goal coming as early as it did, Potter’s men still had plenty of time to turn the game on its head!!!

There was defending to do for the visitors, as Hürzeler’s side were desperate to get their advantage back. Areola made a great save to keep out Wieffer’s header as the Dutchman was on the end of a cross from March and although Adingra’s deflected effort caused panic in the visitors’ defence, it was hurriedly cleared.

The game carried on in its relentless nature and after the Hammers survived more pressure, they soon got back into their groove. They kept attacking and despite earning a free-kick and a corner in quick succession, neither set-piece caused the hosts any real problems. Having said that though, the delivery from Emerson Palmieri eventually found Kudus and the effort looked destined for goal but it was unfortunately blocked on its way through.

Just after the hour mark, Bowen cut the ball back to Wan-Bissaka, who then went onto miss the target with his latest attempt.

With an encounter like this, fans would have probably expected the momentum to be swinging this way and that. By this point in the match, it was definitely in favour of the home side, as Estupiñán went close on two occasions. Firstly, he sent a shot into the side-netting, before having a second effort saved by Areola. Matters may have got worse for Potter’s team but thankfully, Mavropanos was on hand to make some key interventions.

It was a much improved second-half from a West Ham point of view and with just seven minutes of normal time to play, it got even better when Souček headed past Verbruggen and the comeback was complete.

Having now got the advantage, Potter was desperate for his team to hold on. In order to help them do this, he made a second change, as Palmieri made way for Coufal.

In each of their last two outings against Liverpool and Southampton, the East Londoners have conceded late goals and that trend unfortunately continued here. Karou Mitoma was introduced by Hürzeler to take the place of Adingra earlier in the contest and he levelled proceedings when two of the home side’s other changes in Brajan Gruda and Diego Gómez combined to set the Japanese international up and he sent a free-header past Areola.

The home side were revitalised and delighted to hear that they were going to have an additional five minutes to try and find a winner. Well, just two minutes of that allotted period had passed and they did just that!!! Baleba got in on the goalscoring act and added his name to the scoresheet by smashing the ball past Areola.

The travelling contingent left The American Express Stadium disappointed but they will surely want to see their team pick up all three points in their next game, as Tottenham Hotspur make the trip to Stratford on Sunday afternoon.