West Ham United 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Premier League, London Stadium, Tuesday 2 January 2024, 7.30pm GMT
West Ham United overcame the absence of seven senior players to complete an unbeaten festive season with a goalless home Premier League draw with Brighton & Hove Albion at London Stadium.
Goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was the star of the show in our first stalemate since Burnley away in December 2021, making a string of superb saves to ensure the Hammers kept a fourth successive top-flight clean sheet.
The Frenchman made no fewer than seven important stops to deny Facundo Buonanotte, Danny Welbeck, Jack Hinshelwood, Pascal Gross and João Pedro, ensuring his injury, illness and Africa Cup of Nations depleted team would pick up a hard-earned point.
At the other end, West Ham went closest through Tomáš Souček, who prodded Saïd Benrahma’s deflected cross wide from six yards.
In truth, a share of the spoils was an acceptable return for an Irons squad shorn of Vladimír Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Thilo Kehrer, Lucas Paquetá and Michail Antonio due to either illness or injury, and Africa Cup of Nations bound Nayef Aguerd and Mohammed Kudus, and a point kept David Moyes’ side in sixth place.
The opening quarter saw next to nothing by way of excitement, with Brighton building patiently from the back and the Hammers apparently willing to let them have the ball in their own half.
The only early moment of drama came inside two minutes, when Edson Álvarez went down as he passed Billy Gilmour inside the Brighton box, but neither referee Sam Barrott nor VAR Robert Jones deemed the contact sufficient for a penalty to be awarded.
Then, after a quarter devoid of thrills, the game sprang to life and it was something of a surprise that it remained goalless until Barrott blew his half-time whistle.
Brighton had the clearer opportunities, but Areola continued his impressive recent form with four important saves.
First, he adjusted well to hold Buonanotte’s deflected left-foot, then he showed impressive reflexes to claw Welbeck’s header away and react quickly to block Jack Hinshelwood’s follow-up shot. The fourth save was the best of the lot as the Frenchman positioned himself perfectly to keep out captain Gross’s glanced header.
While the Seagulls went closest to breaking the deadlock, the Hammers also improved after moving their press higher up the pitch, with the result being a number of chances to score themselves.
Jarrod Bowen and Benrahma combined to set up Emerson, but the Italian scuffed wide. Bowen then raced onto Souček’s pass and saw his shot tipped onto the post by Jason Steele, only to see the assistant’s flag raised for offside.
Bowen, Benrahma and Souček combined again to set up James Ward-Prowse, but Steele was equal to his well-struck volley. And a goalless first half was confirmed when Dinos Mavropanos first headed Bowen’s cross over, then failed to connect with Emerson’s centre from a well-worked Ward-Prowse free-kick seconds before the break.
In truth, the second half was a slow burner, too, and again Areola was West Ham’s most influential player as tired players saw the tempo of the game slow.
After referee Barrott had turned down a penalty appeal for handball against Emerson, the goalkeeper did well to parry Welbeck’s shot. Next, João Pedro should have beaten him, but instead fired straight at the stopper after a mazy run had taken him past three West Ham defenders.
Those stops were bisected by two efforts from the hosts. Fornals’ low shot was gathered by Steele, then Souček somehow prodded Benrahma’s deflected header past the post.
With the game entering its final stages, both managers went to their benches and it was Brighton substitute Evan Ferguson who next went close, shooting a yard wide with his left foot, before both Gross and the Irish youngster looped headers wide and another replacement, Jakob Moder, half-volleyed over from close-range.
And that, after 90 goalless minutes for the first time in 80 Premier League matches, was that.
West Ham United: Areola, Johnson, Mavropanos, Ogbonna ©, Emerson, Álvarez, Ward-Prowse, Souček, Fornals, Benrahma (Mubama 73), Bowen
Subs not used: Fabiański (GK), Cresswell, Casey, Laing, Coventry, Orford, Cornet, Ings
Booked: Johnson
Brighton & Hove Albion: Steele, Milner, Webster (Moder 74), van Hecke, Estupiñán, Groß ©, Hinshelwood, Buonanotte (Lallana 74), Gilmour, Joâo Pedro, Welbeck (Ferguson 67)
Subs not used: Verbruggen (GK), Kavanagh, Samuels, Dahoud, Baleba, Baker-Boaitey
Referee: Sam Barrott
Attendance: 62,462
