Brighton continued their unbeaten start to the season as they earned a deserved 2-0 victory over West Ham courtesy of strikes from Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard.
New Hammers signing Thilo Kehrer was the villain of the piece, bringing down Danny Welbeck in the area to allow Argentina international Mac Allister to send Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way from the spot.
They then doubled their advantage in the second half with a wonderful goal, as Trossard raced onto Pascal Gross’ neat flick to finish with confidence.
The win takes the Seagulls up to fourth in the Premier League with seven points from their first three games, while West Ham are rooted to the bottom of the table without a point.
It also continues Brighton’s excellent record against the Irons – they remain undefeated in all 11 league matches against West Ham since their promotion in 2017.
David Moyes’ side had started the game brightly, with Said Benrahma curling just wide from 25 yards out before Michail Antonio fluffed a chance from Jarrod Bowen’s pass.
However, any sort of momentum halted when Kehrer clipped Welbeck to be booked and give away a penalty on his debut. Mac Allister held his nerve from the spot, easing the ball into the bottom right corner.
The Hammers did create some opportunities in the second half, but Aaron Cresswell saw his goal-bound shot blocked before Bowen had another effort deflected behind.
Brighton remained compact in defence and a threat on the counter, leading to their second goal as Mac Allister fired the ball into Gross, who flicked it into Trossard’s path. The Belgian ran clean through on goal, converting comfortably from close range.
Summer signing Gianluca Scamacca had been introduced for the hosts just before that goal and largely fed off scraps during his cameo. Brighton’s back three held out well for the most part, though needed goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to save their clean sheet by keeping out Tomas Soucek.
West Ham will look for their first points of the season when they face Aston Villa next Sunday – the Hammers have a Europa Conference League qualifier at Viborg first on Thursday – while Brighton host Leeds on Saturday.
